Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart wants to review a heavily scrutinized bylaw program that, just seven months ago, resulted in talk of lawsuits and infringements on civil liberties.
Setting out public safety as one of his priorities over the next 100 days, Stewart's inauguration speech Monday highlighted plans to review Coquitlam's once-highly controversial public safety inspection team program, an initiative rolled out by the city last year with the intent of cracking down on marijuana grow operations.
In an interview with The NOW, Stewart said the city is in the process of striking a balance between targeting grow-ops -- the original intent of the program -- and allowing homeowners some leniency if none are found.
"If we're going to protect that bylaw for the purposes that it was supposed to be used for, that means let's only use it for that purpose," he said. "If we discover a secondary suite, we might want to hand the folks a brochure about how to legalize their suites, but we shouldn't throw the book at them."
The program works through bylaws that allow officials to search properties with high electricity usage or other suspected indicators of a grow-op. BC Hydro provides data on electrical consumption, and city staff investigate the properties in question.
However, the program gained region-wide notoriety in April and May, as several homes were searched and found to have no evidence of grow-ops. Some homeowners were levelled with fines in the range of $5,000 resulting from building code violations or other structural deficiencies, causing some to question the intent of the program and others to file lawsuits against the city.
City staff briefed council with statistics relating to the program in May, as Trevor Wingrove, the city's general manager of corporate services, said the bylaw had been applied in 128 situations between May and December 2007.
Of those 128 instances, 88 properties had the bylaw applied and power shut off, while at 24 additional properties, there was a "strong suspicion" that the bylaw was being contravened, but staff decided not to enact the bylaw because of insufficient evidence. Nine other properties were inspected where no evidence of a grow-op was found, and three properties were found to have electrical problems unrelated to grow-ops.
Coquitlam spokesperson Therese Mickelson told The NOW that new stats are being tabulated, and although they aren't currently available, they will be made public at a future council meeting once the program review is complete.
"There were things being identified that were outside the scope of the program, so we're going to focus on those areas that relate to public safety," she said.
"If there's no evidence of there being fire-safety issues or a grow operation, we're basically thanking our residents for their co-operation and moving on."
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact: editorial@thenownews.com
Website: canada.com
Author: John Kurucz
Setting out public safety as one of his priorities over the next 100 days, Stewart's inauguration speech Monday highlighted plans to review Coquitlam's once-highly controversial public safety inspection team program, an initiative rolled out by the city last year with the intent of cracking down on marijuana grow operations.
In an interview with The NOW, Stewart said the city is in the process of striking a balance between targeting grow-ops -- the original intent of the program -- and allowing homeowners some leniency if none are found.
"If we're going to protect that bylaw for the purposes that it was supposed to be used for, that means let's only use it for that purpose," he said. "If we discover a secondary suite, we might want to hand the folks a brochure about how to legalize their suites, but we shouldn't throw the book at them."
The program works through bylaws that allow officials to search properties with high electricity usage or other suspected indicators of a grow-op. BC Hydro provides data on electrical consumption, and city staff investigate the properties in question.
However, the program gained region-wide notoriety in April and May, as several homes were searched and found to have no evidence of grow-ops. Some homeowners were levelled with fines in the range of $5,000 resulting from building code violations or other structural deficiencies, causing some to question the intent of the program and others to file lawsuits against the city.
City staff briefed council with statistics relating to the program in May, as Trevor Wingrove, the city's general manager of corporate services, said the bylaw had been applied in 128 situations between May and December 2007.
Of those 128 instances, 88 properties had the bylaw applied and power shut off, while at 24 additional properties, there was a "strong suspicion" that the bylaw was being contravened, but staff decided not to enact the bylaw because of insufficient evidence. Nine other properties were inspected where no evidence of a grow-op was found, and three properties were found to have electrical problems unrelated to grow-ops.
Coquitlam spokesperson Therese Mickelson told The NOW that new stats are being tabulated, and although they aren't currently available, they will be made public at a future council meeting once the program review is complete.
"There were things being identified that were outside the scope of the program, so we're going to focus on those areas that relate to public safety," she said.
"If there's no evidence of there being fire-safety issues or a grow operation, we're basically thanking our residents for their co-operation and moving on."
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact: editorial@thenownews.com
Website: canada.com
Author: John Kurucz
