POT-OPERATION BYLAW PUT ON BACK BURNER

Mission council has put on hold until May its controversial strategy
of searching for marijuana-growing operations in homes that are using
large amounts of electricity.

Council voted Monday to suspend the tactic pending a review of the
bylaw that allows the inspections, carried out by the public safety
inspection team.

"We just don't see the need to run it full-time any more," said Paul
Gibbs, Mission deputy chief administrative officer.

"There just aren't that many properties coming up on the radar that
could be controlled substance properties."

The bylaw granted the team the ability to inspect homes that are
consuming more than 93 kilowatts of electricity a day. Several Mission
residents who had their properties inspected filed a class-action
lawsuit over the strategy.

The program was suspended in January for one month after a wave of
protests from citizens who claimed they had been unfairly targeted by
the bylaw and had been given onerous inspection fees.

Gibbs said plans were already in place to sharply reduce the scope of
the program, but "certainly the public outcry about it accelerated
council to do something quicker."

He said city inspectors will continue to conduct inspections of
buildings identified by the RCMP as probable growing operations.