GOT POT? THEN YOU MAY HAVE CLEANING BILLS, TOO

Property owners in Port Coquitlam are now required to have their homes
professionally cleaned if they are found with a marijuana grow-op
under a bylaw adopted Monday by city council.

The new regulations are being hailed by police.

"This is the first [bylaw] that I've seen as really helping the public
and the new residents coming in," said Const. Jim Brown, an officer
with the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. and a former member of
Coquitlam RCMP's drug section.

Brown, who helped draft the bylaw, said the city of Kamloops is
considering similar regulations to protect residents.

Under PoCo's bylaw, which was sanctioned last month by the provincial
Ministry of Health, a home found with a pot grow-op cannot be occupied
until the floors, walls, ceilings, curtains, blinds and air ducts are
cleaned. All mould and water-damaged materials, like drywall or
gyproc, also must go. And owners must pay the city $300 to have the
remediated home inspected.

The city allows 30 days for repairs or a notice will be posted on the
home. Owners who don't obey the bylaw can be fined up to $10,000.

PoCo Mayor Scott Young said action had to be taken. "It's incumbent on
us to make sure [homes] are safe for future tenants," he said at
Monday's meeting.

Last October, the city of Port Moody adopted a similar bylaw. Property
owners in that city found with grow-ops in their homes are billed for
the police costs to clean-up and to remove the plants and growing
equipment. Property owners who fail to pay will have the costs added
to their tax bill.

According to a Simon Fraser University study, released last year,
there were an estimated 353 marijuana grow-ops in the city of
Coquitlam in 2000.

PoCo Coun. Darrell Penner said the main thrust of his city's bylaw is
to protect children who may come into contact with chemicals from
former grow-ops.

Const. Brown cited four examples of former grow-ops, including one at
a home that housed a grow-op in the basement with a daycare upstairs.
"Did anyone clean that house up?" he asked. "Did anyone tell [the
future tenants]? There's no help for the citizen that wants to move
into that property."