MAYOR NOT BUYING VICTIM ACT

The owner of the property where the largest marijuana grow operation
in Chilliwack RCMP history was discovered last year played the
innocent victim at city council on Monday, but Mayor Sharon Gaetz
didn't buy his story.

Lloyd Allan McConnell of Langley is the owner of a Nixon Road property
where 11,520 marijuana plants were discovered in September 2009 in an
underground bunker in what Chilliwack RCMP called "the largest, most
sophisticated" grow operation ever.

Police say a conservative estimate of the value of the crop was at
least $3 million.

After the bust, and at the RCMP's request, the city carried out a
health and safety inspection and "hazardous conditions" were found and
reported to the owner.

After a series of further letters to the owner of 7630 Nixon Rd.
ordering the building cleaned up and secured, the city held a show
cause hearing on July 19 to file a notice on the title related to
health and safety issues stemming from the grow-op.

McConnell is the president of a numbered company that owns the
property, and lawyer Nathan Muirhead attended the Monday hearing to
ask city council to delay putting the notice on title.

"The owner hasn't received formal notice of what is required to bring
this into compliance," he told council.

"The bylaw requires that within 30 days, all carpets and curtains in
the premises must be removed or cleaned, any forced air heating ducts
in the premises must be cleaned, and all walls and ceilings must be
cleaned in disinfected," Gaetz read to Muirhead from the Sept. 9
letter sent to McConnell, after adding that the city has little
tolerance for grow-ops.

"What part of that doesn't your client understand?" she
asked.

Muirhead shifted gears and said in this case the city's nuisance,
noxious or offensive trades, health and safety bylaw was inappropriate
because vandals had damaged the house and it was likely beyond repair
and needed to be torn down. And, the lawyer explained, the owner is in
the middle of a civil forfeiture proceeding for the property that
forbids him from making alterations.

Muirhead also said "the owner is an innocent victim" with respect to
the massive grow operation discovered on his property.

"We do have a bylaw that says the owner has to inspect the property
every two months or we consider them to be complicit," Gaetz responded.

The grow site took a toll on the surrounding environment, as police
say chemicals were spilled at the site used in the grow-op. As well,
the operators had run an irrigation line from nearby Elk Creek, a
fish-bearing stream, and were pumping water to supply the grow-op.

Water was not the only thing the operation was siphoning illegally.
Police estimate that based on the amount of time they believe the
grow-op was in business, it probably consumed more than $400,000 of
stolen hydro electric power.

Despite the pleas from the owner's lawyer, council unanimously voted
to file notice on title of the property because of the deficiencies
from the grow-op.