HOME GROWN BYLAW TARGETS POT BUSINESS

Homeowners who rent out will now be on the hook for fines in the five-figure
range if it turns out their properties are used to produce illegal
narcotics.

After much deliberation in recent months, council finally passed its new
bylaw to fight the spread of grow-ops and methamphetamine labs.

The Nuisance, Noxious or Offensive Trades, Health and Safety Bylaw was
adopted unanimously Monday night, meaning landlords will now have to check
their properties at least once every three months to avoid being fined up to
$10,000, if the homes are involved in the manufacture of illegal narcotics.

Coun. Sharon Gaetz, who chairs the city's public safety advisory committee,
said the issue for council boils down to one of safety, especially for
emergency crews that have to deal with grow ops and meth labs.

According to Gaetz, the police take down a couple of grow-ops every week and
this ends up costing somewhere in the range of $1 million over the course of
a year.

She has spoken many times about the dangers these operations present to fire
fighters and police, in the form of electrical hazards and exposure to
pesticides, among others.

"This is a way we'll be able to protect them," Gaetz said Monday. "We're
sick of the safety risks."

The bylaw, she said, had been sent out for extensive consultation and has
been checked by lawyers to make sure people cannot escape by finding
loopholes.

The fines are not only to act as a deterrent but as a means to recover the
costs associated with cleaning up old drug operations.

"Regular honest taxpayers should not have to subsidize the cleanup costs,"
she said, adding, "We want to help honest landlords protect their
investment."

Mayor Clint Hames echoed Gaetz's sentiments.

"I want to make it really, really clear that this is not an anti-landlord
bylaw."

It's apparently not to be an anti-tenant bylaw either. Hames said the
regulation would not end up invading a tenant's privacy, as the city was not
expecting landlords to go through every drawer inside a house, adding that
there are ways to check from outside.

For Hames and council, the goal is to make sure landlords play a role in
keeping up their property. Hames does not feel the requirement to check
homes every 90 days is onerous. It simply sets out some consequences for not
looking into things.

"If you have a grow-op in your house, you're going to get a ticket...a
ticket for $10,000. That's the meat and potatoes of this bylaw."

There are other ways landlords can protect themselves, Hames added, even
before someone moves in. He suggested measures such as credit and
identification checks as well as leasing agreements.