Pubdate: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Chilliwack Times Contact: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357 Author: Mike Chouinard HOME GROWN BYLAW TARGETS POT BUSINESS Homeowners who rent out will now be on the hook for fines in the five-figure range if it turns out their properties are used to produce illegal narcotics. After much deliberation in recent months, council finally passed its new bylaw to fight the spread of grow-ops and methamphetamine labs. The Nuisance, Noxious or Offensive Trades, Health and Safety Bylaw was adopted unanimously Monday night, meaning landlords will now have to check their properties at least once every three months to avoid being fined up to $10,000, if the homes are involved in the manufacture of illegal narcotics. Coun. Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the city's public safety advisory committee, said the issue for council boils down to one of safety, especially for emergency crews that have to deal with grow ops and meth labs. According to Gaetz, the police take down a couple of grow-ops every week and this ends up costing somewhere in the range of $1 million over the course of a year. She has spoken many times about the dangers these operations present to fire fighters and police, in the form of electrical hazards and exposure to pesticides, among others. "This is a way we'll be able to protect them," Gaetz said Monday. "We're sick of the safety risks." The bylaw, she said, had been sent out for extensive consultation and has been checked by lawyers to make sure people cannot escape by finding loopholes. The fines are not only to act as a deterrent but as a means to recover the costs associated with cleaning up old drug operations. "Regular honest taxpayers should not have to subsidize the cleanup costs," she said, adding, "We want to help honest landlords protect their investment." Mayor Clint Hames echoed Gaetz's sentiments. "I want to make it really, really clear that this is not an anti-landlord bylaw." It's apparently not to be an anti-tenant bylaw either. Hames said the regulation would not end up invading a tenant's privacy, as the city was not expecting landlords to go through every drawer inside a house, adding that there are ways to check from outside. For Hames and council, the goal is to make sure landlords play a role in keeping up their property. Hames does not feel the requirement to check homes every 90 days is onerous. It simply sets out some consequences for not looking into things. "If you have a grow-op in your house, you're going to get a ticket...a ticket for $10,000. That's the meat and potatoes of this bylaw." There are other ways landlords can protect themselves, Hames added, even before someone moves in. He suggested measures such as credit and identification checks as well as leasing agreements. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh