BBY GROW-OP STRATEGY IS TAKING TOO LONG: RANKIN

Review of City's Approach Still Going on After Two Years

Two years after Burnaby council asked staff to review the city's
tools to prevent and shut down marijuana grow operations, changes
have yet to be made.

Coun. Lee Rankin, who requested the review at a Sept. 19, 2005,
council meeting, said the process is taking too long. Council passed
Rankin's motion two years ago, asking staff to evaluate the bylaws
Burnaby had in place to deal with the illegal operations, and to
review bylaws other municipal councils had enacted.

"I'm very concerned about the length of time we've been working on
that," said Rankin.

Rankin said he requested the review at about the same time cities
like Abbotsford and Surrey were introducing legislation with more
teeth to deal with grow-ops, including bylaws to hold landlords more
responsible if operations are set up on their property.

"We should be proactive and look at the best examples and get working
on this," said Rankin.

Rankin said property owners need to be held accountable for grow-ops
established in their homes due to the associated health and safety
risks, including dangerous chemicals used to grow marijuana, and
increased occurrences of mould, mildew and fires.

Burnaby's failure to introduce tougher bylaws to deal with grow-ops
could also be drawing more operators to set up shop in the city,
Rankin added.

"I'm sure the message is Burnaby is more lax when it comes to
cracking down on grow-ops," said Rankin.

But Mayor Derek Corrigan said the city is actively working to close
the illegal operations.

"We're always cracking down on grow-ops," said Corrigan.

But Corrigan added drug enforcement is a federal, not a municipal,
responsibility.

"Generally, we've left the enforcement of grow-ops to the RCMP," said
Corrigan. "There have been no requests from the RCMP that they wanted
us to do something differently."

Dan Mulligan, Burnaby's assistant chief building inspector, said city
staff don't go into grow-ops until after RCMP have shut them down,
due to safety and staffing concerns.

Lou Pelletier, Burnaby's assistant director of long range planning,
said the review requested by council two years ago is still underway
with city staff examining the city's current zoning and building
bylaws' effectiveness in addressing grow operations, reviewing other
municipalities' strategies, and consulting with the local RCMP.

Pelletier expected the report outlining current policy and suggested
changes to go before council by early next year. Pelletier noted a
staff member's recent maternity leave delayed the report.

Burnaby is also currently without another tool used by other cities
to crack down on grow-ops.

An amendment made to the provincial Safety Standards Act in April
2006 allows municipalities to find out from BC Hydro which residences
are consuming an unusually high amount of electricity, often
considered a tell-tale sign of grow operations.

BC Hydro spokeswoman Gillian Robinson said high consumption is
considered to be 93 kilowatt hours per month or more aE" triple the
average residential monthly consumption of about 31 kilowatt hours.

Robinson said 14 B.C. municipalities have agreements with the power
company to release a list of addresses that have an abnormally high
rate of electricity consumption when municipalities request it,
including several Metro Vancouver communities: Surrey, Abbotsford,
Pitt Meadows, Delta, Coquitlam and West Vancouver.

Many of these communities use this information as part of a grow-op
eradication strategy, sending teams of fire and bylaw and building
inspectors to investigate residences with a suspiciously high level
of electrical usage.

Cities who have agreements with BC Hydro can also pass on this
information to local police and fire departments.

Burnaby RCMP strategic communications officer Corp. Jane Baptista
said police can only access electrical consumption information from
BC Hydro on a single residence basis through the provincial Freedom
of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Baptista said Burnaby police currently use several different tools to
identify and close grow-ops including search warrants and tips from
the public.

"We welcome any tool that people choose to give us. In the meantime,
keep the tips coming," said Baptista.