DRUG BYLAW GOES TO CITY FOR VOTE

Parksville's planning and development committee thinks it may have
found a controlled substances production bylaw that everyone can be
happy with.

After bringing one option forward a few months ago, concerns were
raised that the bylaw may be too far-reaching

"That previous bylaw, was going to be problematic and increase a lot
of administrative costs to the city," said Gayle Jackson, director
of planning for the city.

That one, borrowed from another municipality, put a lot of the onus
for regular inspection on the property owners -a task that could be
unfairly difficult in some cases because of tenancy regulations and
other factors.

After further research, Parksville staff were able to find a second
option - one everyone seems more pleased with. The goal she says,
was to give the RCMP a means by which they could recoup the costs of
dismantling a drug production lab - and the city the ability to
charge if work has to be done on the property to bring it back to
safety standards.

"The bylaw you have in front of you does that and doesn't do much
more," says Jackson.

Councillor Marc Lefebvre, who was a member of the Oceanside
Community Crystal Meth Task Force that launched the whole bylaw
initiative, says he felt the second bylaw proposal is far more appropriate.

"The former bylaw we were looking at - would penalize a property
owner who was practicing due diligence," says Lefebvre. "Talking to
members of the task force, I find it very well written, capable of
doing what we're looking for it to do."

The bylaw went to council for final approval last night.