Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers responds to new municipal regulation

Members of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers spoke out against a recently passed municipal measure to increase the development fees for water and wastewater in new greenhouse projects.

The association estimates the new measure approved by the by the Chatham-Kent Municipal Council in Ontario will cost 179,000 Canadian dollars per acre for new greenhouses built in the municipality and rise to CA$366,000 per acre by 2029.

Before the vote, association members spoke to the council about how the measure would impact the local economy. Greg Devries of Truly Green, which has greenhouse operations in Chatham-Kent, said it would be tough for local operations to manage and would affect other local businesses that support the greenhouse industry in the area, according to a news release.

“Locally, companies like Honey Electric, Dordt, and Timbertech Construction have over 50% of their business dedicated to the greenhouse industry,” he said. “The sudden increase in development charges will increase the cost of a planned and financed 30-acre build at the Cedar Line location by [CA$]2.55 million for just water and wastewater.”

Other members spoke about how the greenhouse industry strives to minimize its impact on municipal infrastructure.

“We dig wells, we build water ponds to house rainwater, sometimes we have developments that will take water out of the lake, this is all to minimize our impact on the public infrastructure of water,” said George Dekker, representing Mucci Farms, according to the release. “Development charges should be site-specific and considered case-by-case based on the many water conservation measures employed by greenhouses.”

The municipality amended its bylaws to reflect existing alternatives that exempt farms from choosing access to private water and wastewater services, the release said. Those alternatives would be subject to approval from the Chatham-Kent Public Utilities Commission.
 
“Notwithstanding the high development charges, Chatham-Kent sees the economic, employment and food security benefits brought by greenhouse development,” Richard Lee, executive director of OGVG, said in the release. “They have signaled they want to continue engaging with the sector to support growth, development, and food security but in essence, they have now hung a ‘closed for business’ sign at their municipal offices for any future planned greenhouse growth.”
 
The council also passed a measure to form a working group of stakeholders, municipal staff, utilities and greenhouse growers to understand and overcome the challenges and advantages of greenhouse development in the areas.

“Chatham-Kent wants greenhouse development to support growth which unfortunately can’t happen under egregious development charges in place,” George Gilvesy, board chair for the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, said in the release. “Development may be frozen today, but all stakeholders are looking for a thaw and growth to come to Chatham-Kent.”