LANGFORD CRACKS DOWN ON DRUG LABS

Bylaw Makes Landlords Liable For Costs Of Dismantling Meth Labs And Grow-Ops

Langford landlords who allow marijuana grow-ops or crystal meth labs
to be assembled in their rental properties will now face heavy penalties.

Langford has become the first capital region municipality to adopt a
new model nuisance (controlled substance) bylaw that includes a
detailed schedule of fees which will see the city recoup its costs
for everything from fire and police services to building inspection
needed to dismantle drug houses and make them habitable again.

"We're being proactive. We haven't had any problems so far," said
Coun. Lillian Szpak, chairwoman of Langford's protective services committee.

Senior bylaw enforcement officer Lorne Fletcher is a member of the
Crystal Meth Task Force. He was given time to draft the bylaw as the
municipality's contribution to the effort to battle the growing
problem of the highly addictive chemical.

Duncan and Nanaimo have passed similar bylaws. Saanich has a bylaw
ensuring that houses used for grow-ops are properly rehabilitated.

Fletcher said Colwood, Highlands and Sooke could soon be following
suit and enacting the model bylaw.

Interest in it is high in the more rural municipalities where
residents are often served by wells, he said. "If you get these
people who are operating a crystal meth lab and they're disposing of
all of this toxic waste by dumping it out into the forest or fields,
you could be compromising the integrity of peoples' well water."

Under the bylaw, landlords won't be billed for the police
investigation that leads to a meth lab being shut down.

"Police will go in and do all their evidence gathering for the
criminal aspect. We're not entering into any of that," said Fletcher.

However, landlords will be billed for police time spent dismantling;
exhibit custodian time; drug disposal and lab equipment disposal.
They could also be billed for fire personnel and equipment time -- up
to $1,315 an hour for a quint device (a ladder truck); building
inspection time and bylaw officer time.

"The bylaw is attempting to recover all costs associated with public
safety," said Fletcher.

"Really, we're not trying to be punitive when it comes to dealing
with rental properties. We're just trying to be mindful of community
safety and the risk that the property owners will be taking in
renting out properties," he said.

He pointed out that police officers will need to obtain and store the
exhibits, "and typically those costs go back to the community. So if
the grow-op or the meth lab didn't exist, we wouldn't have that cost.

"You've also got the situation where you're going to have other
emergency services workers such as your firefighters, perhaps
paramedics or ambulance people coming in -- needing to make sure
everyone is safe and that the property itself does not become a risk
to the neighbourhood."

All that would be followed by the building inspector's time and the
bylaw enforcement officer's time, now all billable under the bylaw.

Fletcher noted that the costs are not billed to landlords who
discover the clandestine operations through their own inspections and
report them to the police: "If they are the ones who alert the
community to the fact that this problem exists, they are not subject
to the requirements of the cost recovery."

The costs associated with cleanup of meth labs can be enormous, Fletcher said.

"Richmond had a $20,000 bill about a year ago just to dispose of a
couple of drums of chemicals."