City of Windsor Greenhouse ahead of schedule and on budget

Construction of the City of Windsor’s new greenhouse in Jackson Park is ahead of schedule and under budget and is expected to be completed by January instead of May.

In addition to the area where the plants and vegetables will grow, there is also a multipurpose room and an administrative area with offices, toilets, a meeting room and a kitchen.

The new facility measures 22,000 square feet, twice the size of the old greenhouse at Lanspeary Park.

“We’ve doubled the size here and we’ve doubled the height,” said Wanda Letourneau, director of horticulture.

“So we can be able to grow bigger, bigger, more beautiful and more amazing plant material. “

The city will also have more space to grow vegetables for the community garden to donate to food banks and there will also be high-tech automation to make the operation more efficient.

“Controlling things like lighting, heat, irrigation, ventilation, fans, in a fully automated fashion,” said Joe Dattilo, project manager.

The multipurpose hall will host events and courses.

“It relates to the sponsorship application that we have put in the public and we will see what the use and the need is,” said Dattilo.

“The horticultural societies can maybe host a meeting or have a class so with the greenhouse that will be wonderful,” Létourneau said.

Automatic shade curtains will work to keep out the heat in the winter and the extreme sunlight in the summer. They also prevent light pollution.

It will take the city until next fall to move everything to the new facility, and then demolition can begin on the old greenhouse. Demolition will cost $ 350,000 Over the winter of 2022 through 2023, the city will conduct a public consultation process to determine how to reallocate Lanspeary Park with the 1.2 hectares of land on which the former greenhouse now sits. .

“We look forward to hearing from the public on what kind of park equipment they would like to see,” said James Chacko, Senior Director of Parks.

The city will also consult with the heritage committee to decide how much of the old facility’s Willistead Historic Greenhouse to save. However, Létourneau said only a portion would likely be incorporated into the new greenhouse.

“He’s over 100 years old so he’s in pretty rough condition,” she said. “But at some point, something is going to happen here.”

The city plans to complete the redevelopment of Lanspeary Park by fall 2023.