POT BYLAW MEETING SMOOTHES OUT LANDLORDS

Most landlords at a public meeting Wednesday seemed ready to buy into a
bylaw to control marijuana grow-ops after learning a possible $10,000 fine
isn't aimed at them.

The bulk of the proposed bylaw, which also covers the growing menace of
methamphetamine labs here, deals with the tenants of rental properties
using them for illegal activities, not landlords.

After some intense questioning by about 60 landlords at the meeting, Mayor
Clint Hames also agreed to look into relaxing inspection fees in the bylaw
for landlords who could show "due diligence" in ensuring their properties
are not used for grow-ops or the potentially more dangerous drug labs.

"We're not after you guys," Mayor Hames said at one point in the four-hour
meeting. "That's not the point of all this."

But tenants caught breaking the bylaw by cultivating marijuana or
manufacturing drugs in premises intended for residential use could be hit
with the maximum $10,000 fine, "which is more that what they get in court,"
he said.

The mayor added, only half in jest, that his big fear is a tenant might pay
the fine - in cash - and just carry on with business.

A slide show of property damages caused by labs and grow-ops, along with a
horde of weapons seized by Chilliwack RCMP officers in drug raids, seemed
to impress upon landlords the need to help police fight back against
organized crime and the danger of renting to the wrong people.

It's believed that more Chilliwack homes and rental properties could be
used for grow-ops as police drug enforcement heats up in Vancouver and
other communities west of here, pushing the criminal element further up the
Fraser Valley.

Chilliwack already has a reputation for having the second-highest per
capita number of grow-ops in B.C., and for the largest Ecstasy lab in North
America discovered in October 1999 in a rented upscale home on Little Mountain.

A Chilliwack Mountain Road resident was shot in September last year in an
apparent grow-rip and "barely" survived, Corporal Roxanne Dowden, who heads
the detachment's drug strike force, told the landlords. During another drug
bust at Chilliwack Lake, police found a 9 mm handgun - loaded - hidden
under a pillow.

"We're actually reaching out to you," Const. Steve Stark said to one
landlord who complained the bylaw is "downloading" police duties on
landlords. "We need the extra eyes and ears," he said. "We're not trying to
download our duties."

Joanne Donnelly, who manages a mobile home park with her husband Jim,
backed the bylaw and the city's efforts to involve the whole community in
the fight against crime.

"If everybody does their part, it would make it easier to get rid of these
grow-ops, among other things," she said after the meeting.

Loralee Elliotson, from the Residential Tenancy Board, advised landlords to
obtain proper identification and enter formal written agreements with tenants.

"You have to be very sure of who you're renting to," she said. "Do
everything in writing."

Mayor Hames said he believes the number of grow-ops in Chilliwack could be
cut in half if landlords only screened tenants better and made regular
inspections part of rental agreements.

Absentee landlords, who may not take either of those precautions, could
find themselves high on the city's hit list.

"I think we're going to go after some of these guys and make them pay
attention to what they're doing in our community," Mayor Hames said.