Twelve greenhouse growers in the municipality of Leamington, south-east Canada, are being taken to court for contravening rules which seek to control light pollution from the use of night-time supplementary lighting.
Home to one of the country’s biggest concentrations of greenhouses, the municipality introduced its greenhouse light abatement by-law last June following complaints received over a number of years about the amount of light emitted from greenhouses. It said while this had always been an issue, complaints had escalated as production of cannabis had expanded and light intensities increased.
The by-law requires growers using lights to install screens on side and end walls and keep them closed between 5pm and 8am. It also requires, by October this year, screens to be installed on the roof, which have to be closed for a large part of the night, unless growers had submitted a signed declaration that the lighting would be permanently switched off.
The municipality said enforcement officers had been patrolling the area since last November to gather evidence of contraventions and as a result had laid 88 charges on 12 growers so far. Those found guilty could be fined and all or part of their greenhouse mothballed for up to two years.