Fresh from banning smoking in public housing units, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville are now looking at prohibiting their tenants from growing pot. 

The counties’ joint services committee this week asked Alison Tutak, director of community and social services, to report back on the counties’ social-housing rules on growing plants indoors.

Mayor Erika Demchuk of Gananoque said some Canadian landlords, including Homestead Land Holdings, which rents more than 25,000 apartments in Ontario, are sending out notices banning the growing of pot by tenants. She wondered whether Leeds and Grenville should do the same in public housing.

With the legalization of marijuana becoming effective Oct. 17, Demchuk said, some residents might be getting a jump on the law by starting to grow pot now. She said the committee should put in its policies before the legalization date.

“We should jump on this as quickly as possible,” Demchuk said.

Tutak said the county government can now prohibit growing in public housing units through its building regulations. In the past, the counties have cracked down on public-housing tenants for growing pot, tomatoes and other plants in their apartments, she said.

Over the years, inspectors have discovered “mini-greenhouses” of tomato plants in public housing as well as marijuana, she said.

Tutak said the growing of plants inside buildings is a concern from a maintenance perspective. The high humidity and heat required to grow such plants as marijuana can lead to mould problems and other property damage, she said.

Tutak said the legalization law, which would allow Canadians to grow up to four marijuana plants at home as well as permitting government-controlled sale of cannabis, has led to staff discussions on how they will deal with the legalization. 

Members of the committee said that they should have a say on any new marijuana-growing policy, and asked Tutak to report to them.

Mayor Joe Baptista said the policy should look at growing pot outside as well as inside public housing. He asked whether the counties want to allow pot gardens along with tomato gardens on the public-housing properties.  

The committee members raised the marijuana-growing concerns during their approval of a bylaw that would prohibit smoking in all public housing effective Feb. 1, 2019. The ban covers tobacco, marijuana and vaping.

The smoking ban covers nine metres from any apartment and five metres from single-family houses and townhouses. 

Although new public housing tenants have been prohibited from smoking since 2012, longtime residents were allowed to continue smoking until they left. Their units would become non-smoking then. Depending on the turnover, up to half of the units in some buildings are smoking units.