Greenhouse lights turning night into day
The entire industry needs to become better neighbours
A report by a Detroit journalist this week has once again reminded residents of Essex County that regular displays of greenhouse residual light is neither a natural phenomena nor one conducive to tranquillity of mind and soul.
I suppose at this time of year there might be something almost biblical for those looking east from Detroit or Windsor and see a sky glowing — perhaps beckoning — them to greenhouses that have overwhelmed Kingsville, Leamington and perhaps in the not-too-distant future, Essex and Lakeshore.
A massive industrial complex, otherwise known as our greenhouse industry, has not only splashed cloudy nights with the brightness of day, but the industry has also generated volumes of traffic which has almost overwhelmed many roads, including Highway 3.
In addition, with the added joy of Leamington's marijuana greenhouses producing pink-lit skies and skunk-like stenches, the area has fast become a region where residential living can be tenuous at times.
For those residents of the Kingsville-leamington area who have lived in the region for long periods of time, much of the collateral impact of the vast greenhouse industry began long after they arrived.
Former Leamington Mayor John Paterson once said to me: “why did people move here if they knew what it was like?”
“John,” I replied, “this is not a parallel to complaints from people living near Leamington's sewage treatment plant.”
Anti-smell complaints first emerged at Leamington's council when several newly arrived residents found a long-standing sewage treatment plant smell offensive.
Of course, that plant was there long before developers created — and planners permitted — adjoining residential subdivisions.
The same cannot be said about residents enduring increasingly heavy auto, freight and service vehicle traffic related to the greenhouse sector.
Nor can the same be said for night skies blazing with wasted energy in the form of light spewing from the greenhouses.
Stench, heavy traffic, and when clouds hang low, endlessly day-like night skies has made the region for many people a place to avoid living in — if you have a choice.
For many longtime residents, such options are limited.
Justifiably, Kingsville promotes its heritage and its many lovely historical homes within its quaint older town. And when COVID-19 isn't ravishing the land, Kingsville has a remarkable variety of fine to mediocre restaurants offering a range of foods as an added attraction.
Kingsville also has a microbrewery (or maybe two) and it certainly has an exceptional long-standing Pelee Island winery. But even the winery has become cramped by strip commercial development and fast food outlets.
Consider the greenhouse industry as food manufacturing and certainly not traditional farming. Greenhouses are operated as hightech factories producing, or “manufacturing,” food produce.
Generally, employment conditions within greenhouses are relatively safe, certainly clean, but most assuredly at lower ends of hourly wage scales.
For many, greenhouses offer welcome parttime employment with few benefits.
Essex County's greenhouse industry has made a welcomed economic addition to the region. But even welcomed residents should appreciate they also have responsibilities and obligations to their neighbours.
Kingsville has a new bylaw seeking to control marijuana greenhouse stench and offensive night-sky light.
Will it be enforced?
Leamington seems reluctant to follow suit. What is surprising is that, to date, nobody appears to have considered a class-action lawsuit against offending greenhouse operators. I imagine that could be a pending eventuality. In the meantime, it is my hope the greenhouse industry begins to behave collectively as more responsible corporate residents — rather than as objectionable neighbours.