Neighbours in stink over Stoney Creek grow-op’s return
Sasha Pejcic says he'd hoped he'd seen the last of the notorious marijuana grow-op next door to his Green Mountain Road East home when it shut down after the city passed new odour provisions in Hamilton's nuisance bylaw last year.
But the upper Stoney Creek property's greenhouse is once again full of what appear to be pot plants, easily visible from his backyard, even if they've not yet reached the point where their skunky stench makes sitting outdoors or opening windows unbearable," he said.
Pejcic said city bylaw officials dropped by shortly after he contacted his councillor, Brad Clark, but told him they can't do anything until the stink returns.
He said he doubts claims the greenhouse and neighbouring warehouse are growing medical pot - combining licences for up to 2,000 plants - given a troubled past, including a drive-by shooting in which bullets hit a nearby home four years ago.
Pejcic said he's put up with the grow-op every summer since moving there eight years ago and it doesn't help that the property is an eyesore, using metal sheeting for fencing in one spot.
It's just not pleasant living next door to this thing, quite honestly - shady characters here all the time. I don't feel safe enough to let my kids out (in the backyard)," Pejcic said.
These are incompatible land uses. We're a residential family here and this is a commercial development that's a dangerous one," he said.
The fact that they need a 20-foot barbed wire around much of the facility tells you it's not like growing cucumbers."
The grow-op property at 286 and 288 Green Mountain Rd. has two homes, but neighbours say one is empty and the other is used by a supervisor.
No one answered the door at the latter home when a reporter dropped by, and a request for comment on a business card left behind didn't elicit a response. There were also no workers in sight.
Fred Mattiuz, whose home two doors down was hit by bullets early in the morning on Easter Monday four years ago, said the grow-op's owners denied the shooting had anything to do with them, but one of their driveways was hit the following week.
It's too much of a coincidence," he said, adding he has no known enemies that would make him a target. I keep to myself."
Mattiuz said he moved there 25 years ago for peace and quiet, and the greenhouse's original owners were wonderful people" who grew flowers before retiring and selling about a decade ago.
He said he's tired of the ongoing grow-op battle - from the headache-inducing smell when pot plants bud, to the howl of feral cats in the empty home and the property's general state of disrepair.
There's no respect (for neighbours)," Mattiuz said.
Clark said he shares his constituents' frustration, but bylaw officials are monitoring the situation.
He said federal legislation allows people to combine licences to grow up to 2,000 medical pot plants, even if that raises suspicions about their end use.
You kind of start scratching your head when you see thousands of plants in a building. It's not possible to use that much marijuana for your disease," Clark said. They rushed the legislation and there are loopholes in it, and communities like ours pay for it."
City spokesperson Michelle Shantz said the grow-op is under investigation, but hasn't had any odour-related penalties issued against it since the nuisance bylaw's new provisions took effect last December.
Any investigation would assess the use of air ventilation and filtration, lighting, and impact on neighbours, she said.
The totality of that investigation would then determine if a charge could or would be laid," Shantz said.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY: We wanted to learn more after Green Mountain Road neighbours let us know a notorious marijuana grow-op has restarted after shutting down last year.