DELTA GOES TO POT - SURREY STYLE

Delta landlords and homeowners whose properties are used to hide indoor
marijuana grow operations, methamphetamine labs and other illicit drugs will
have to pay the costs of police and municipal inspectors under a cost
recovery bylaw given preliminary approval by council Monday.

Modelled on similar bylaws in Surrey and Port Moody, the regulation would
bill property owners for the cost of search warrants, and removing and
disposing of pot plants and grow op gear.

The bylaw dictates fines of up to $5,000 a day for landlords who fail to
clean up their property after a grow op is raided, and it allows the bill to
be tacked onto property taxes so the city could seize a grow op house for
failure to pay.

The law is designed to reduce the expense of drug investigations in Delta,
estimated at $78,000 worth of police time in 2002, the most recent year for
which figures are available.

The bylaw will be given a public hearing before final approval, which is
expected in a matter of weeks.