Neighbors urge enforcement after greenhouse lights blot out night sky

Several nearby residents told the board that interior greenhouse lighting from a cannabis operation is radically brighter than previous agricultural lighting and is causing nighttime nuisance and skyglow.

Barb Dreyer, who said she lives a half-mile south of the operation, described going outside at 2:48 a.m. to view northern lights and instead seeing "glowing greenhouse lights" that obliterated the Milky Way. "If I could give you a visual, think of Tom and Laura's lights as the brightness of a candle; think of mister Zappa's lights as a bonfire," Dreyer said, calling the new lighting far brighter than previous greenhouses and requesting enforcement of Office of Cannabis Management guidance to confine interior lighting.

Other residents submitted photos and asked the board to require mitigation such as blackout curtains with a short compliance timeline. One speaker said the placement of lights was often less than 300 feet from neighboring homes and asked the county to require operators to install blackout curtains within two weeks to reduce off-site glare.

County staff and commissioners acknowledged the complaint and noted the county's existing ordinance language and state-level OCM requirements for interior lighting and packaging for hemp-related businesses; they said enforcement avenues and potential remedies would be reviewed as part of follow-up.

Residents asked the county to apply consistent standards used for similar operations and noted the impact on access to dark skies and personal enjoyment of stargazing. The board did not take immediate enforcement action at the meeting but accepted complaint materials and directed staff to follow up.