As a result of an ongoing investigation of Leamington Greenhouse Owners who have been operating in contravention of the Municipality of Leamington’s Greenhouse Light Abatement By-law, the Municipality has laid 88 charges under Part III of the Provincial Offences Act upon 12 individual Leamington greenhouse owners.
At its meeting held June 14, 2022, Leamington Council passed the current Greenhouse Light Abatement By-law, being By-law 41-22.
The Municipality of Leamington’s Greenhouse Light Abatement By-law (the By-law) requires owners of greenhouses utilizing lights to have installed and keep closed, sidewall and endwall curtains from 5:00 PM to 8:00 AM. Those greenhouse owners who had not already installed curtains on the greenhouse ceiling were required to submit evidence that the owner would be able to install ceiling curtains on or before October 1, 2023.
Alternatively, owners could submit a declaration that the greenhouse lights would be shut off and remain off. The date upon which either of these documents was required to be submitted was October 1, 2022. Only two owners submitted evidence related to a planned ceiling curtain installation. No owners submitted a declaration that lights would be shut off and remain off.
Since November 2022, Leamington By-law Enforcement Officers have engaged in a patrol of the Municipality for the purpose of gathering evidence of greenhouse owners operating in contravention of the By-law.
As a result of this ongoing investigation, By-law Enforcement Officers have laid 88 charges under Part III of the Provincial Offences Act upon 12 individual greenhouse owners. The charges reflect numerous contraventions across many calendar days. It is important to note that the matters will not be heard by the courts for a number of months. In the interim, investigations will continue and further proceedings are pending.
“It is unfortunate that several greenhouse owners continue to be in violation of our By-law, particularly those greenhouse owners with whom the Municipality settled previous proceedings,” said Mayor Hilda MacDonald. “We are hopeful that in most cases, compliance will be achieved within a reasonable amount of time.”
By-law 41-22 can be viewed in its entirety here.
I hope this article will help improve compliance with this by- law. It makes a big difference to the sleep of people living next to or near these operations. We need to reclaim our night sky.