ROYAL BANK PAYS FOR DEMOLITION OF 'POT HOUSE'

Bulldozers could raze a local eyesore before the end of the year and
city taxpayers won't be on the hook for the bill.

The Royal Bank, which holds the deed to 369 Scott Rd. - known locally
as the "Pot House" - will be billed $8,900 by the city to demolish the
burned-out house in Hespeler's Silverheights neighbourhood.

Weather permitting, the building could come down by the end of this
month - a year after a fire led to the discovery of a sophisticated
indoor marijuana growing operation inside the basement and main floor
bedrooms of the raised bungalow located across from Silverheights
Public School.

"The Royal Bank holds the mortgage. They hold the responsibility, not
city taxpayers," Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig said yesterday.

However, Craig said it was the city who "pushed and prodded" to get
the mortgage company to finally take steps to get the house demolished
after the property was taken from the homeowner.

Several neighbours contacted by The Reporter yesterday were relieved
the abandoned and boarded-up house with broken windows and dangling
siding was finally coming down before someone got hurt.

And they are glad to have their neighbourhood back, though those
reached said they were reluctant to talk publicly about it out of fear
because of the home's drug connection.

Mayor Craig, who lives in the same neighbourhood, said he'll be happy
to see the community residents put the headache behind them.

After the Dec. 27, 2000, blaze, Waterloo Regional Police seized 93
marijuana plants worth $68,000, along with pot growing equipment. The
fire was linked to a tangle of wiring used in an illegal hydro bypass
that provided the growing operation with an unlimited supply of free
power. The bypass around the electricity meter helped avoid detection
by police.

It's a trend found in about 65 other similar illegal marijuana growing
operations busted in Waterloo Region in the last two years. Last month
a second home, this time in Kitchener, went up in flames in a fire
connected to the pot garden growing inside.

This week, Cambridge city council followed Kitchener council's lead by
advocating maximum sentences for those convicted of operating
marijuana home grows. Minh Hai Ta, 54, who was arrested in connection
with the Scott Road operation, was sentenced to 20 months of house
arrest and required to do 200 hours of community service.