Councillor proposes registry for homes used in grow operations
By: Terry Pender, The Record (Kitchener, CN ON), 09-30-09

KITCHENER — After police bust a marijuana grow operation, the property should be flagged at the land titles office until it is properly cleaned and repaired, says a veteran city councillor.

Coun. Berry Vrbanovic said the idea is to protect home buyers and renters from moving into a residence contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers, jerry-rigged wiring and mould.

“Depending on the size and the extent of the grow-op, it can get very bad,” Vrbanovic said. “The problem is if it is not registered on the land titles’ system, there is no way of knowing it.”

Kitchener is among several municipalities that will vote on a resolution in support of the move. A grow-op registry would require changes to provincial laws that govern municipalities and the land title system.

Motions in support of a grow-op registry will be forwarded to the minister of community safety and correctional services in a bid to demonstrate widespread support for the move.

City bylaw officers and hydro inspectors now routinely issue several orders after a home grow is busted related to proper cleaning and repairs to make the residence safe and healthy for people living there in the future. But the remedial work is not always done properly and the properties are not re-inspected.

“Sometimes what happens is that people simply paint over the mould and so on and people end up buying these properties not knowing what was in there and have health problems afterwards,” Vrbanovic.

A registry would require a follow-up inspection to ensure that work is completed before other people move in.

“It protects people,” Vrbanovic said.

Once the work ordered by city inspectors is completed the warning could be removed from the land title and the city should be able to recover some or all of its costs, Vrbanovic said.

Home buyers and renters should be able to access the grow-op registry at no charge.

Vrbanovic’s call for a registry is scheduled to go before city council on Monday Nov. 3.

In the early 2000s, Waterloo Regional Police busted a large, home grow operation almost weekly.

But then the numbers started dropping.

In 2002, police shut down 39 grow-ops averaging 300 plants each.

By 2004, the number of busts was down to 15 and last year about 11 were raided. So far this year about six grow-ops have been shut down by regional police.

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