Pubdate: Fri, 26 Nov 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 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) DEVELOPER FLOATING IDEA OF POT-FREE, GATED COMMUNITY The public can get a firsthand look Saturday at a new subdivision that's being sold on its design to keep out grow-ops. Plans for the 13-lot subdivision on Promontory include a number of measures such as security gates, a 24-hour surveillance camera to forward photographs to police, central hydro meters that the strata council can monitor, and a ban on basement suites or foil covering over windows. As well, owners will be required to forfeit their homes if they are found to be using them for operations such as marijuana growing or crystal meth labs. For developer Bill Coughlin, the matter is one of security for the buyer, particularly at a time when home-based drug businesses are springing up all over. "You've got your neck stuck out on the line," he said. "You want some security." For example, for a neighbourhood in the Fraser Valley, the mere presence of a grow-op can immediately lower the value of adjacent homes by $50,000. Coughlin said the plan to have subdivision free from grow-ops came to mind about a year ago when he was talking to one of his clients who had bought a home in the most upscale neighbourhood of Mission. Then it was discovered there was a grow-op nearby, then another at a house right next door that always seemed to be abandoned. "He had never seen a live body," Coughlin said. Another homeowner he knows then told Coughlin about the four busts in her neighbourhood, and those were just the ones she knew about. As Chilliwack has been one of the fastest growing areas for grow-ops, Coughlin figures the time was right to put in a subdivision where homeowners can have a little security about who their neighbours are. "We have established a new community that is absolutely criminal activity free." To Coughlin, arrangements such as strata ownership and entrance gates are a good start to cut down on the chance of criminal activity in a neighbourhood. "Typically any criminal activity is going to be resistant to go through a set of gates," Coughlin said. The new subdivision, known as Promontory Park, is located on Valleyview Heights. The open house will run on Saturday from noon until 4 p.m. The City of Chilliwack has been battling grow-ops on another front by bringing in fines of $10,000 for landlords whose properties are used to produce narcotics and who have not take steps to monitor their properties. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek