GROW-OP CRACKDOWN UNDER REVIEW

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart wants to review a heavily scrutinized
bylaw program that, just seven months ago, resulted in talk of
lawsuits and infringements on civil liberties.

Setting out public safety as one of his priorities over the next 100
days, Stewart's inauguration speech Monday highlighted plans to review
Coquitlam's once-highly controversial public safety inspection team
program, an initiative rolled out by the city last year with the
intent of cracking down on marijuana grow operations.

In an interview with The NOW, Stewart said the city is in the process
of striking a balance between targeting grow-ops -- the original
intent of the program -- and allowing homeowners some leniency if none
are found.

"If we're going to protect that bylaw for the purposes that it was
supposed to be used for, that means let's only use it for that
purpose," he said. "If we discover a secondary suite, we might want to
hand the folks a brochure about how to legalize their suites, but we
shouldn't throw the book at them."

The program works through bylaws that allow officials to search
properties with high electricity usage or other suspected indicators
of a grow-op. BC Hydro provides data on electrical consumption, and
city staff investigate the properties in question.

However, the program gained region-wide notoriety in April and May, as
several homes were searched and found to have no evidence of grow-ops.
Some homeowners were levelled with fines in the range of $5,000
resulting from building code violations or other structural
deficiencies, causing some to question the intent of the program and
others to file lawsuits against the city.

City staff briefed council with statistics relating to the program in
May, as Trevor Wingrove, the city's general manager of corporate
services, said the bylaw had been applied in 128 situations between
May and December 2007.

Of those 128 instances, 88 properties had the bylaw applied and power
shut off, while at 24 additional properties, there was a "strong
suspicion" that the bylaw was being contravened, but staff decided not
to enact the bylaw because of insufficient evidence. Nine other
properties were inspected where no evidence of a grow-op was found,
and three properties were found to have electrical problems unrelated
to grow-ops.

Coquitlam spokesperson Therese Mickelson told The NOW that new stats
are being tabulated, and although they aren't currently available,
they will be made public at a future council meeting once the program
review is complete.

"There were things being identified that were outside the scope of the
program, so we're going to focus on those areas that relate to public
safety," she said.

"If there's no evidence of there being fire-safety issues or a grow
operation, we're basically thanking our residents for their
co-operation and moving on."