PORT MOODY GOING TO POT IN A BIG WAY

Neighbours in the tony Heritage Woods community were shocked Thursday when
Port Moody Police hauled close to $1 million in drugs from six homes in a
one-block radius.

"This came as a surprise," said an Ashwood Drive resident, who did not want
to be named. "It's kind of scary this was going on and we had no idea. We
saw the people and they were just regular people. They kept to themselves."

Port Moody Police executed six drug warrants in just over three hours. The
warrants were for three homes on Firview Place, two on Ashwood Drive and
one on Wildwood Place.

Police Const. Brian Soles said charges are pending in the busts, which
netted 864 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1 million.

Meanwhile, the neighbour said her family moved into their Ashwood Drive
home a year ago. "Apart from that (grow op) this is a good neighbourhood,"
the woman said. "I guess this can happen anywhere now."

Ashwood is a quiet, upscale neighbourhood, with manicured lawns and
carefully kept flower beds, with $500,000 homes on roomy lots.

"You don't expect this to happen, but I think they look for places like
this," she said, looking across the street at one of the homes raided by
police. She said she had noticed police cars driving past her home in the
past month. She believes police might have been tipped off.

"We never saw any heavy traffic, we didn't see people coming or going," she
said. "There was no suspicious movement at all."

Word on the neatly trimmed street is that the owners of the six homes paid
for the houses with cash. The woman said the first people she saw were a
couple in their 50s, and then a younger couple, who told neighbours they
didn't speak English, moved in later.

"They were very quiet. They kept to themselves."

She said the selling point for the neighbourhood is its distance from the
trappings of other urban settings in the Lower Mainland.

"What upsets us is our laws are not strict enough. There could be a
drive-by shooting that you have the next time," she said.

Another neighbour was equally shocked.

"We didn't know anything about it," she said, under the condition of
anonymity. "We just thought they were hard-working people keeping to
themselves."

The drug bust in her neighbourhood has unnerved her, and has pushed
residents of the suburban street to the brink of fear.

"I couldn't even sleep that (Thursday) night. I was totally shocked knowing
something was going on across the street like that," she said.

She said the residents in one of the raided homes were already there when
her own family moved into the neighborhood last fall.

A newcomer to the area, she was surprised an illegal operation of that
magnitude was going on near her home.

"You see it maybe in south-central L.A., not here," she said. "It's not a
pleasant thing to go through."

Soles said the huge bust is the department's way of serving notice to grow
operators.

"We are giving marijuana cultivators notice. The price of doing business
just went sky high in Port Moody," Soles said in a news release.

Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini gave his municipal police department a pat
on the back for keeping a vigil on the drug trade in the city that sells
itself as the City of the Arts.

"Because Port Moody has its own police force, we're active in finding these
grow ops and taking them down," Trasolini said. "Most grow ops in the Lower
Mainland are ignored."

He said other forces are not as proactive because the "fines are so
minimal," and the offenders are often back on the job and the growing
equipment moved to another location almost right after the busts.

Trasolini said he is not surprised the grow ops were found in homes worth
in excess of $500,000.

"It is a business," Trasolini said. "These grow ops are all over the Lower
Mainland and they are run as businesses."

He said the city and the police department's position is clear on the issue
of illegal activity.

City council has enacted a controlled substance property bylaw. The city
will bill property owners found with grow operations directly for any
police costs associated with disassembly, removal, transportation, storage
and disposal of grow equipment and drugs, taking the burden off taxpayers.

"The reason we are taking down grow ops in Port Moody is we don't stand by
and let them take root," Trasolini said. "We won't stand by and let this
illegal activity take place."

As well, any alterations, installations or "repairs" of plumbing, heating,
electrical or accessories made to accommodate a grow operation will
automatically give the home an "unsafe for occupancy" designation by the
city, Soles said.

He said those charged will likely pay more through the city bylaw than
through the courts.

The designation will be removed once proper permits and inspections have
been made and paid for. Soles said the city will keep a record of all homes
used for pot production.

"Port Moody has always been a great place to raise a family," Soles said.
"The vast majority of these drug cultivators are not residents of our city.
Our police force is committed to prosecuting these people to the letter of
the law, and using every available resource to convince them Port Moody is
closed to their business."

Jeff Gemby, a Re/Max real-estate agent, said there are no checks and
balances in place to determine what a homebuyer will do with a home once it
has been purchased.

"It's not unusual for people to come from overseas and pay with cash,"
Gemby said.

He admits using a 500,000-square-foot home to grow drugs is a waste, but
adds the homes' large sizes are also their appeal.

"It's easy to hide when you have a really big house," he said.

Police have no one in custody, but say charges are pending.