A group of Kingsville residents is fighting back against what it's calling "greenhouse glow."
Melissa Tremaine-Snip says, as the industry continues to grow in Kingsville and Leamington, so does the greenhouse light seen after sundown.
Tremaine-Snip and others say the glow is having a negative impact on their children's sleeping habits and on the behaviour of local wildlife.
She says there's a long list of effects.
"I've heard of people who have moved out of Kingsville. I heard people who were going to invest in Kingsville and decided not to because of the glow. I heard people concerned that their kids weren't able to look at the stars at night in winter anymore. I heard people who the greenhouse glow was affecting this sleep and their children's sleep which then, of course, affects their ability to focus in school."
Tremaine-Snip says bringing attention to the issue is the first step.
"I was asking for awareness from council and a commitment to move forward and stop this from happening. To allow our kids to sleep through the night, that's what I was hoping for and in a relatively short time. It's light pollution. Light pollution is wrong. We have noise bylaws. We should have light bylaws."
She says other communities are taking action.
"There are some jurisdictions where they're turning the lights off duck until 2am or midnight. There are jurisdictions where they are mandating that the greenhouses push the light downward. In Europe, they're using blackout blinds. So none of them are unattainable right? These are all reasonable solutions to this problem."
Tremaine-Snip adds the residents group is not anti-greenhouse, but does believe a solution can be found to fix the problem.
The group recently made a presentation to Kingsville Council which agreed to have a report done on the issue.
That report is due back to council within the next 90 days.