Residents of Riverside are still fuming over a marijuana grow-op that continues to operate despite numerous warnings from the city it is in violation of the zoning bylaw.
In January, the NOW broke the story of a home in the 6000 block of Thorne Avenue that was being used to produce hundreds of medical marijuana plants despite the city’s clear zoning bylaw, which only allows for medical marijuana to be produced in industrial areas.
One week after the story was published, Jennifer Marshall, a property use coordinator with the City of Burnaby, conducted her fourth inspection of the Thorne Avenue property.
According to information obtained from a freedom of information request by the NOW earlier this month, the inspection revealed there were more plants in the grow-op than there were on Oct. 31, 2014, the last time Marshall had inspected the property.
“Once again we went through the electrical room into the three large plant-filled rooms, and I was amazed to see that once again, as we saw the very first time we inspected, the rooms were full of marijuana plants,” she wrote in the email.
Marshall estimated there were likely 444 plants spread between three different rooms inside the building.
It’s now been more than one year since Burnaby resident Gino D’Onofrio, who lives next door to the grow-op, first contacted the city with concerns about an industrial-style building being constructed on the neighbouring property.
Because D’Onofrio’s concerns were only speculation at the time, the city couldn’t do anything other than wait until the structure was built. By the time it was completed last summer, it became clear the tenants were using the new metal building to grow marijuana.
“The city has given them enough rope up to now, enough is enough. It’s got to come to an end. The decision has to be made,” D’Onofrio said.
He thinks the city should be held accountable for approving the building in the first place – if it had never been approved, this whole mess could have been avoided, he added.
“Whoever approved the design and building either was in cahoots with them or was blind,” he said.
City stuck in legal battle
Following Marshall’s final inspection in January, the file was forwarded to the City of Burnaby’s solicitor, Bruce Rose.
Rose is now waiting to hear if a court order barring the Thorne Avenue tenants from growing medical marijuana on that property will be granted.
Rose, however, couldn’t say when a hearing would take place.
“We’ve told them given the circumstances, we’d like it moved along as quickly as possible,” he said.
Rose admits it’s not the best situation for residents in the area, but the city has pretty much exhausted all of its avenues at this point.
“That’s why we’re going to court to ask for a court order for them to cease doing that,” he said. “That’s really what our remedy is here.”
If the city is successful in getting the order, D’Onofrio would like to see the building torn down.
When the NOW asked if that was an option, Rose said it’s unlikely the owners could be forced to tear down the building because that’s not what is in violation of the zoning bylaw.
