BUSINESS-LICENCE PLAN PANNED BY TENANTS, LANDLORDS

A growing pot problem in Richmond won't be nipped at the bud by a city plan
to force business licences on landlords, say two groups typically at odds
with one another.

The B.C. Apartment Owners and Managers Association and the Tenants Rights
Action Coalition agree licensing alone won't solve the city's grow
op-related woes.

"This really just becomes an additional tax on landlords," said apartment
owners' association CEO Lynda Pasacreta. "To me, the solution lies in
education and communication."

Linda Mix of the tenants' group echoed that sentiment.

"I see it as a money grab for the City of Richmond."

Richmond city hall supported Coun. Bill McNulty's business-licence plan
almost unanimously this week. It will be the subject of an upcoming staff
report and was sparked by the city's unwitting participation in a grow-op,
which was housed in one of the city's rental properties.

"This will put the responsibility back on the owner to know who they're
renting to," McNulty said.

Just as more traditional home-based businesses must be licensed, McNulty
said landlords who run a small-scale rental business from their home should
bear a similar regulatory burden.

"You are carrying on a business," he said.

But grow ops aren't just a problem in the City of Richmond. Virtually every
municipality is grappling with the issue.

Pasacreta said the City of Victoria introduced the business-licensing
option. Its municipal neighbour, the City of Saanich, didn't adopt the same
regulatory approach.

"There was exactly the same number of grow ops," she said. "The
business-licencing plan didn't change anything."

Both groups say coming changes to the provincial Residential Tenancy Act
will give greater controls to landlords than any licencing scheme ever
could. This forthcoming regulatory rewrite will give permission to
landlords to legally inspect their rental properties monthly. And it's not
only single-family homes that are housing grow-ops any more. Marijuana
production factories are becoming increasingly common in apartments and
strata units.

Although Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie is keen to eradicate the grow-op
problem, he is choosing to remain measured in his support for the
business-licencing proposition until the requested staff report is prepared.

"I just think you would add a huge layer of administration to the process,"
he said, adding he questions the benefit.