PITT PRESENTS POT FARM FINES

If the police bust a pot farm on your Pitt Meadows property, you're going
to pay for it.

A new bylaw in Pitt Meadows means residents whose properties are used to
grow marijuana or produce other illegal substances will now pay up to
$2,500 for police, fire and municipal staff to close it down and clean it up.

"There is a responsibility on the property owner to police, or I guess to
supervise, rented dwellings they own," Mayor Don MacLean said before
council adopted the bylaw Tuesday night.

The municipality now spends thousands of dollars a year to close down drug
production operations - mostly grow ops. According to a staff report, Ridge
Meadows RCMP and Pitt Meadows fire department dealt with 12 drug operations
in 2001 and 2002.

As well, the RCMP now has 140 tips about 20 more addresses in Pitt Meadows.

Maple Ridge has a significant grow op problem as well, but as yet, no
similar bylaw.

"Now we have to get Maple Ridge on board," Ridge Meadows RCMP Staff Sgt.
Lance Harris commented in an email on the Pitt Meadows bylaw.

Brock McDonald, Maple Ridge's director of business and community relations,
said a similar bylaw is being researched for Maple Ridge and is expected to
go to council this year.

At the moment, the municipality only charges the property owners for the
post-bust site inspections, which cover such aspects as electrical, hydro
and venting, plus the permits to repair any damage. The owners are not
billed for any RCMP or fire department work. "It would be nice to recover
those costs," McDonald said.

Pitt Meadows' new bylaw allows the municipality to bill each property owner
for the costs directly related to the equipment and resources used to bust,
dismantle, inspect and clean up the drug operation. That bill could be as
much as $2,500 - and in some cases even higher, the staff report says.

The staff report also mentioned police say illegal activity is increasing
in Pitt Meadows. The criminals often rent or buy properties under
fictitious names, and then abandon them after harvesting one or more crops.

Grow operations are a problem throughout the Lower Mainland and other
cities have taken varying steps to protect themselves. For example,
Vancouver has established a coordinated project team to shut down grow ops,
while Surrey also permits cost recovery for police, fire and inspection
staff for their work related to grow ops.