CRACK-down: Part 3 - The Muncipality Has the Power

By 250 News

This is the third and final segment in a series about alleged crack shacks in Prince George:

Part 1  CRACK-down: alleged crack shacks, who owns them?

Part 2 CRACK-down: It is a Community Problem Say Police

In the first two instalments we explored who owns the properties that have been hit hard recently as suspected crack shacks and the desire of police to have landlords be more diligent, Landlords say their hands are tied by the tenancy act. 

Well other communities are taking control through municipal bylaws.

The City of Prince George has been exploring  the bylaws already  adopted in other jurisdictions like Surrey, Abbotsford, Nanaimo and under review in Chilliwack.  Those laws allow the City to charge back  fees for  police  going into the home,  fees for looking at the power and water, fees for health inspection, costs to the landlord to  have  grow ops professionally cleaned,   the list goes on.

In the case of Surrey, the charge is $2,000 dollars for a special safety inspection, including initial property research, posting of a notice and initial inspection. Each additional inspection costs $500 dollars.  In the case of the Surrey bylaw, the City doesn’t wait for a legal conviction  on the allegations  the property was being used for illicit purposes.  The effect of this, says Prince George Bylaw Services Ken Craig, is that the landlords suddenly have to be aware of who they are renting to. And if they intend to use the house as a crack shack it won’t be long before the charges against it will exceed the value.

As it now stands, Craig says, trying to get these people from continually using the home as a crack shack is tough, especially when a management company shows up and says, the owner didn’t know it was being used as a house for drugs. 

The City of Prince George has  an "inspection team" which can  enter the  alleged crack-shack  and  refuse to allow it to be occupied until necessary changes have been made.  The team  includes a building inspector, fire inspector, Northern Health,  and B.C. Safety  experts on electrical and gas.  "We have proobably  done about 100 inspections" says Craig.  "We have shut them down in the past  for health reasons, we've shut them down in the past  for  building code infractions and that means  the  building can't  be rented  again until everything is  brought up to code and  inspected again."  Right now  there is no bylaw on the books that would allow  the City to claw-back the costs  associated with those inspections. Craig says the City is looking at  bylaws in place in other jurisdictions "We are looking at Nanaimo as the kind of  bylaw that would  allow us to  get back some of those fees."

Will the Province be willing to step in with new legislation that could help cities manage the problem? 

Not likely says Solicitor General John Les. He says  the Province’s role is to make sure municipal governments have the tools they need to  be effective in keeping communities safe  “Their powers under an unsightly premises bylaw for example are very good.  We have given them additional tools by giving them access to records from B.C. Hydro so they can uncover grow ops more readily.  If they declare a place not fit for human habitation, nobody lives there, and nobody lives there until the municipality decides that is it brought back up to snuff and it is not a danger to people.  In the meantime, any expenses  the municipality incurs is added to the property taxes, and property taxes must be paid. So they have a really good package of powers to deal with that kind of thing.  If they need more, I would be interested to know about it.”

 Les says the communities can deal with the problem faster than  Provincial  government as  the communities see changes on a day to day basis. “If you’re committed to it, you can get 100% compliance.”  

While the CIty of Prince George staff have been examining possible options for a bylaw, Councilor  Don Zurowski says perhaps the time is  ripe to bring  a bylaw forward.  "If our bylaw people and police think this would be a useful tool in the battle against crack shacks, then bring it forward.  I would look forward to saying yes to something that is going to help battle this element in our City."

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