One resident drives down the street with her foot on the gas pedal, afraid the car behind her is trailing her. Another rushes from the house to the car, her toddler in her arms, for fear bullets will fly.

I'm not comfortable living there, and at this point, I can't even sell my house to get out of there. - Tom Roeder

Another can't find a broker willing to re-mortgage his home, or have a barbecue outside because of the stench of marijuana. Still another was awoken one night when a spray of bullets hit his house. Twice.

These are the stories from neighbours of 286 and 288 Green Mountain Rd., a pair of properties on an otherwise quiet upper Stoney Creek street that also house a marijuana growing operation.

Two dozen nearby residents attended a meeting with police local bylaw officials their local councillor Thursday, many expressing exasperation, fear and hopelessness.

What they heard didn't make them feel any better.

With so many unsolved loopholes in the way the federal government deals with marijuana, the officials told them, there's only so much they can do to stop it.

"So there's nothing we can do here," one homeowner said. "That's the message. Let's call a spade a spade."

"I have kids," said another. "This is disgusting."

Many were unwilling to give their names because of the violence that has been associated with the property.

Licenced or not?

Health Canada has told CBC the property does not have a commercial licence to grow pot.

The main issue, the residents heard, is how Health Canada handles medicinal marijuana growing licences for personal use to those with a prescription. The law allows six licencees to grow at any one location, said Deputy Chief Dan Kinsella of Hamilton Police Service. That means a group of licence holders could grow as many as 1,000 plants at a location like 288 Green Mountain Rd.

The growers at Green Mountain Road have valid personal licences to grow, Kinsella said. Police can only intervene if they feel someone is exceeding the licence, and even then, they need sufficient evidence to justify a search warrant.

Police executed a search warrant on Green Mountain Road a few days ago, he said, and found no marijuana plants. That leaves the current status of the property unclear. At the meeting, residents said they believe the plants are back.

Coun. Brenda Johnson from Ward 11 listens to frustrated residents talk about living near a large marijuana growing operation. (Samantha Craggs/CBC)

The property in question changed hands last April, when someone named Robert Murray bought it for $700,000, land registry documents show. The land is zoned agriculture, which means marijuana can be grown there. CBC Hamilton has tried without success to contact him.

Then early on April 17, shots were fired twice at a neighbouring house — once at 2:30 a.m. and again at 4:25 a.m. Near as that neighbour, Fred Mattiuz, can tell, the shooter confused the two houses.

I'm using every tool that I currently have to put the heat on this location. - Ken Leendertse, director of licencing

Mattiuz said his alarm typically goes off at 4:15 a.m. That morning, he stayed in bed an extra few minutes. In that time, a bullet came through the kitchen where he usually stands. In total, someone fired seven bullets at the house.

If various levels of government don't hammer this out, he said, marijuana legalization in 2018 will turn neighbourhoods across Canada into Green Mountain Roads.

"They have to make sure they have the rules set before they hand out any permissions to do this," he said.

There were at least two shootings at 288 Green Mountain Rd. in April. (Google Maps)

Kinsella and Leendertse said they're doing everything they can, but that's limited given the zoning and Health Canada's licensing laws.

The city is monitoring for property standards infractions, Ken Leendertse, Hamilton's director of licencing said. If the grass gets too long, he told residents, the city will cut it and add the cost to the tax bill. The city has also laid one charge for a building permit violation.

"I'm using every tool that I currently have to put the heat on this location," Leendertse said. "At least you know the grass is going to be cut."

Green Relief was the first licensed commercial marijuana producer to open in Hamilton. The company made a public statement about its 2016 arrival in Flamborough and invited media to the facility. (Green Relief Inc.)

Medicinal marijuana rules have changed over the years. Prior to 2014, prescription users could grow enough pot for themselves. In 2014, the federal government introduced new legislation saying they had to buy from licensed companies.

Last year, a federal court struck that down, and the feds announced new rules that incorporated both approaches. Users can now grow a limited amount of cannabis on their own — or designate someone to grow it for them — or buy pot from one of about three dozen Health Canada-approved producers.

Now marijuana will be legalized as of July 1, 2018, and many questions remain.

A Federal Court ruling in B.C. struck down a law preventing marijuana patients from growing their own supply 2:11

The city has one rule on the books right now to legislate marijuana dispensaries, and that's health unit regulations around them selling food. Otherwise, it's a police issue.

For police, it's hard to keep up. Entrepreneurs have opened 24 of the still-illegal dispensaries so far, Leendertse said. Police have raided some, but often, they reopen under different names in the same location.

It's still unclear who will be able to grow or sell marijuana in 2018 — small businesses or large corporations, sterile warehouses or people with backyard gardens. But Green Mountain Road residents say the government needs to figure that out before other neighbourhoods have the same problems.

Tom Roeder said living in a rural area, he expects to deal with coyotes. Not bullets.

"I'm not comfortable living there, and at this point, I can't even sell my house to get out of there," he said.

"Now here's the $50-million question: what do we do?"