BYLAW WOULD SEE OWNER PAY FOR GROW-OP CLEANUP

A proposed bylaw for West Vancouver would make the property owner
responsible for cleaning up after a marijuana grow operation, unless the
owner was not involved in the operation and alerted the district about it.

If approved, the bylaw would require the owner to pay for things like
studies of mould and toxic chemical mitigation, examination of safety
systems, outstanding permits and inspection fees for the building that held
the grow op. The homeowner would also need to inform any potential buyer
that the building once housed a grow op. The bylaw is meant to ensure the
safety of neighbours and people who move into the building after cleanup,
Liz Holitzki, district manager of bylaw and licence services, told council
on April 4.

Coun. Rod Day said the bylaw might put an unfair burden on the property
owner. He had a friend who rented out a home in West Vancouver, not knowing
that the tenants intended to use it for a grow op, he said. "They appeared
to be a very clean-cut couple, but the couple ended up running a grow op. .
. . The damage was horrific to the house," he said. "It seems to me this
legislation penalizes the victim. The owner has his house trashed, and has
to pay inspection fees and fines. Shouldn't the violator pay these things?"

Holitzki said the new bylaw check requires the homeowner or someone hired
by the owner to visit the property every three months. If the owner fulfils
that obligation, he would be aware if there was a grow op.

Day said this means the homeowner needs to be really vigilant, because
sometimes it is impossible to tell that a tenant intends to create a grow
op. "Part of the onus rests on the owner even though that owner might be
victimized. The problem is, it's amazing, some of these people who own
these grow ops are very clean-cut and respectable looking," he said. "They
don't look like gangsters. It's easy to fall victim to these people."

Holitzki said the district would send out a pamphlet informing absentee
landowners and the real estate board about the new bylaw.

Municipal manager David Stuart added that a note should be put in the tax
notice for every homeowner.

A previously proposed bylaw that dealt with grow ops, introduced last year,
was abandoned by council.

Similar legislation exists in Coquitlam, Surrey, Chilliwack and Maple
Ridge, Holitzki said.