The City of Nanaimo is ordering owners of a Nanaimo house where police seized 740 marijuana plants from an illegal grow-op to tear the building down or bring it up to standard.
City politicians started the clock on owners of 2120 Boxwood Rd. on Monday, after declaring the property a nuisance and ordering its owners to remove the building or bring it up to standard within 30 days. It also put a bylaw contravention notice on the title of the property because of work done without a permit or inspections.
On Oct. 22, Nanaimo RCMP arrested four men and two women at the house where police found a full-stage marijuana grow operation and seized and destroyed 740 marijuana plants.
There were no charges.
Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien said it was established the six people arrested weren’t associated to the grow operation and there was no one living in the house at the time.
The City of Nanaimo investigated and confirmed a grow-op had taken place in the attached garage and house basement and caused damage. It also found B.C. Building Code deficiencies, including the removal of the plywood subfloor without a building permit to allow access to the basement, installation of a non-compliant, surface-mounted vent in the garage and removal of an interior wall without a building permit, a staff report shows.
“Generally speaking when there’s a grow-op in the house, there’s damage to a house, there’s issues with mould, there’s issues with water damage,” said Rod Davidson, city manager of bylaw, regulation and security. “It’s come to the attention of the city that this has happened there and therefore we insist that the proper remediation take place so that if the house is sold next week that new buyers aren’t going to be surprised by, say, mould in the walls or something.”
The city had contacted the owner, who was told a building permit is required to address the grow-op damage and for construction completed without a permit. The deadline for the permit application was Nov. 16.
While a city report notes the owner is working with staff to repair and correct damage created by a tenant, it recommended a notice on title to reflect work had been completed without a permit or inspections in contravention of the building bylaw and to identify the building as a marijuana grow site not yet remediated. The purpose is to provide disclosure to future owners and protect taxpayers from legal action.