Pubdate: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 The Abbotsford Times Contact: http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009 Author: Jean Konda-Witte Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) BEWARE: YOU'RE BUYING A GROW-OP A group of residents in a quiet area of old Abbotsford is taking a proactive stand against marijuana growing operations setting up in their neighbourhood. And by putting up signs warning potential buyers that the attractive houses they're thinking of buying are former pot operations, they're also sending a message to drug dealers to get out. But while their efforts seem to be paying off, the residents still aren't comfortable speaking out publicly, fearing those connected to the drug operations may seek revenge. Several residents had been keeping an eye on two upscale houses at Woodbine and Ash streets in east Abbotsford for nearly six months as they watched the same vehicles coming and going from the two houses at all times, day and night. They noted the licence plates, which they discovered were also attached to a home on McKinley Street that was later busted by police as a marijuana growing operation. At one point, according to a neighbour who did not want to be identified, he saw a hydro crew come out and check the power lines to the house and confirm that it was a grow-op. Shortly afterward and before the police moved in, the people living there dismantled the operation and moved out. The house, a stylish rancher, went up for sale soon after, but not before the angry residents put up their own sign on a nearby power pole claiming the house was a former grow-op. "The sign went up the day I found out. [The real estate agent] didn't disclose [the growing operation]," said another neighbour, who also wanted to remain anonymous. Every time they would put the sign up, the real estate agent would take it down just before he showed the house, he added. Residents felt it was their duty to warn perspective buyers about the history of the properties, especially if real estate agents did not. But most real estate agents disclose information when they know they are dealing with a former grow house, said Reg Davies, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board in Surrey. "It's kind of a moral thing and most Realtors are really conscious of that," he said, but added that many grow houses in an area can damage the area. But one or two grow houses don't necessarily create a stigma for that neighbourhood he said. While it may be buyer beware, residents continue to get the word out warning people about what they're getting. "They knew exactly what they bought because of the sign," a resident said of one family that eventually bought the house on Woodbine. What it did, he said, was drive down the price of the home by $30,000. He also thinks the signs are a warning for future drug dealers to not set up illegal operations in their neighbourhood, or they will have a lot of trouble selling the houses. "We've done a lot of things with only a little piece of paper on a pole," he said. One resident who has owned his home in the area for 30 years, said, "I think the signs are doing some good. Everyone in the whole area knows these two houses were grow-ops." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin