BARRIE DIDN'T GET A WHIFF OF POT PLANT

A little-known change to Ontario's Assessment Act, combined with an
honour system for building permits and business licences, allowed pot
producers to flourish in Barrie without municipal officials catching
the scent, a senior Barrie councillor said.

Steve Trotter explained the elimination of a business tax keeps
businesses who rent off the local assessment rolls. Municipal
officials have continuing challenges to keep abreast of building
permits and business licences, he added.

"The city does have the licensing process for all businesses. It's a
challenge for us when new businesses are opening up, to add them to
our list. There's no doubt about it, it's a challenge with so many
businesses opening and closing," Trotter said, adding every business
is supposed to get a licence, but the onus is on the owner to register.

"If people want to circumvent these rules, they can be ingenious, and
we're dealing with dishonest people (involved in the pot operation).
If they're smart enough to break the law, they'll figure out how to
skip the (business) licence and building permits."

Enforcing these licences and permits is tough for municipal officials.
Interior renovations - which require building permits - most often go
undetected, because homeowners and business owners opt to skip the
licence.

"Even if we're putting a deck on, we're supposed to get a permit. It's
an honour system," said Trotter. "When someone renovates their
basement, they're supposed to get a building permit, but people don't."

Set back from the road and largely windowless, the old Molson plant is
a prime spot for interior work that could go undetected.

Business licences are also challenging for city officials, because of
the change to the Assessment Act in 1997.

Until then, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation would
enumerate commercial and industrial buildings to nail down what kind
of businesses were where - and determine the taxes they paid.

Tenants would show up on an assessment roll, which is public
information and available at City Hall.

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government changed that, however,
by eliminating the business tax and putting the tax burden on
landlords. No one other than the landlord need know who was occupying
a building or unit, noted MPAC municipal relations manager Heather
Colquhoun.

"We don't go down there (to Molson) and enumerate like we used to,"
she explained. "If we had been out there and in the building, we would
have written down who the tenants are."

Barrie's fire and emergency services inspected the old brewery after
it was sold in October 2001, Trotter added.

Assistant fire chief Cynthia Ross-Tustin added the building isn't a
high priority for inspection, because it's non-combustible and
fully-sprinklered. "We would not be in there annually unless we had an
issue or a complaint," she noted.

"Some buildings like nursing homes or those with high-hazard chemicals
(would be inspected annually). The smaller companies in there weren't
working at the capacity Molson's was. We use the resources as best we
can and target the high-occupancy and high-risk buildings, like
nursing homes, schools and high-rise apartments."