Menlo Park introduces beefed-up smoking ordinance
By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 03/03/2010 12:18:32 AM PST
Menlo Park residents could face fines of up to $500 for lighting up at apartment complex pools, bus stops or ATM lines after the council agreed to strengthen the city's 17-year-old smoking ordinance Tuesday night.
After about two hours of discussion, the city council voted 4-1 to adopt the proposed changes, which bar smoking in most common areas of multi-unit apartment and condominium complexes but stop short of banning the practice on balconies, patios or inside individual units.
"This is a huge improvement from where we are today," Council Member Kelly Fergusson said before the vote. "Does it go as far as I'd like to see? Maybe not. I hope in the future there would be room for making it stronger."
The council introduced the ordinance Tuesday night, and it will come back for approval in the next month or so, City Attorney Bill McClure said. The proposed law also declares secondhand smoke a private nuisance, thus enabling citizens to take legal action against smokers.
Should the new ordinance go into effect, it will outpace state law in its stringency but remain less strict than Belmont's smoking law, which bars city residents living in multi-unit, multi-story complexes from lighting up in their own apartments or condominiums.
Resident Barbara Franklin, who has spoken numerous times on the issue and was instrumental in getting the council to consider changing the existing ordinance, said she wished the city would bar smoking on balconies and patios as well.
"I would prefer that smoking was also banned inside units, however, I understand the contentious nature of such a ban," Franklin added. About three other community members spoke in favor of the ordinance.
The proposed law would prohibit smoking in parks, apartment complex lobbies and laundry rooms, as well as parking lots, including those in the city's two Safeway markets, ticket lines and outdoor seating sections of restaurants. State law already bans smoking in restaurants and bars.
It also bans lighting up within a "reasonable distance" of non-smoking areas, usually 25 feet unless that distance forces the smoker to walk into a dangerous area, such as the middle of a street.
The city manager's office would enforce the ordinance, administering escalating fines of between $50 and $500 for each infraction within a given year, according to a staff report prepared for Tuesday night's meeting.
Bill Davis, the owner of Knickerbockers Cigars on Santa Cruz Avenue, told council members he might lose customers if the ordinance prevented them from smoking pipes and cigars on a patio connected to his store.
"I understand everyone has a right to breathe clear air, and also people have a right to smoke," Davis said. "It's a happy medium."
After discussing Davis' problem at length, council members decided to grandfather in smoking on patios associated with existing tobacco stores.
However, Tim Uttaro, executive chef at the adjacent British Bankers Club said after the meeting that he was concerned patrons would go to bars and restaurants in neighboring cities where they can smoke outdoors.
"That would actually, I think, affect our business in a negative way," Uttaro said.
Under the ordinance, landlords, homeowners associations and employers have the option of imposing stricter smoking rules in their buildings.
Apartment building owners and managers generally prefer that municipalities let them decide what smoking rules to implement on their properties, said Joshua Howard, executive director of nonprofit trade group California Apartment Association's San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz county division.
However, rather than oppose Menlo Park's ordinance, Howard's organization asked the city to allow a phase-in period of at least six months so building owners have time to comply. As introduced, the ordinance would go into effect 30 days after approval.
Howard also requested that the council add language protecting landlords from lawsuits in the section declaring secondhand smoke a nuisance — a change the council accepted.
"The challenge with any of these smoking ordinances that impact rental housing is the issue of enforcement," Howard said in a phone interview Tuesday. "Our goal, No. 1, is to have some level of consistency among the ordinances in San Mateo County and also to clarify the role of the (landlord)."
Vice Mayor John Boyle cast the sole dissenting vote, saying he didn't feel the ordinance was "fleshed out." In particular, Boyle pointed out problems with banning smoking in parking lots and removing ashtrays from various locations without further study.
E-mail Jessica Bernstein-Wax at jbernstein@dailynewsgroup.com.
Menlo Park bans smoking in some public places |
by Sean Howell
Almanac Staff |
Menlo Park's City Council at its March 2 meeting passed an ordinance banning smoking in public places, including ATM lines and parking lots.
In addition to banning smoking in enclosed spaces such as restaurants and places of employment, the revised ordinance will also prohibit smoking in public parks, parking lots open to the public, places of congregation such as ATM machines and bus stops, and in common areas within multi-unit residences.
Perhaps most significantly, the ordinance declares second-hand smoke a nuisance -- enabling people to take legal action against others who smoke in their vicinity, in an adjoining apartment unit, for instance.
The council approved the wording of the ordinance by a 4-1 vote, with Councilman John Boyle dissenting. The ordinance will come before the council at a later date, and will go into effect 30 days after it's enacted.
In dissenting, Boyle said he thought the ordinance was too restrictive, and would have unintended consequences. As examples, he cited a ban on smoking in parking lots open to the public, such as the lot in front of Safeway, and a prohibition on ash trays in non-smoking areas.
"I think we shouldn't enact legislation unless we've thought through it," he said.
Bill Davis, the owner of Knickerbockers Cigars, pointed out that under the new ordinance, people would not be allowed to smoke in a patio outside his shop. Council members expressed sympathy, but decided against "grandfathering in" his shop.
The city drafted the ordinance in response to an extraordinary lobbying effort by Barbara Franklin, who decided to take up the issue after she was bothered by smoke wafting into her condominium unit from an apartment below hers. She began making presentations to the council about the dangers of secondhand smoke in late 2008, and has attended most council meetings since then, often sitting through the several hours of the meeting.
The council has received a trickle of correspondence about the issue from residents since then, with several people making nuanced arguments about how far the ordinance should go. At the meeting, the council incorporated into the ordinance several changes suggested by the California Apartment Association.
The revised ordinance will also enable the city to enforce a San Mateo County law, requiring tobacco vendors to obtain permits from the county. Some believe that requirement would decrease the incidence of vendors selling cigarettes to minors.
Details of draft Menlo Park smoking ordinance released
By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 02/02/2010 11:37:17 PM PST
Updated: 02/03/2010 12:40:22 AM PST
A draft smoking ordinance under consideration in Menlo Park would ban smoking in common areas of apartment and condominium complexes and deem secondhand smoke a public nuisance, according to a brief outline of the document released Tuesday.
City Attorney Bill McClure gave council members at Tuesday night's council meeting an oral description of the ordinance he is still crafting to aid discussion on public outreach for proposed revisions to Menlo Park's current law, last updated in 1993.
In addition to the apartment and condominium restrictions, the draft ordinance would also prohibit smokers from lighting up in public service areas, such as ATM lines, McClure said.
At a study session in October 2009, council members said they could support the ban in common areas of multi-unit residences but stopped short of prohibiting it altogether in those buildings as Belmont has. There was disagreement about whether smoking should be allowed on condominium and apartment balconies and patios.
By declaring secondhand smoke a public nuisance, the city would give residents the option to sue but would avoid getting involved in such actions itself, McClure said.
"The individual would have a right to bring a civil action," McClure said.
Resident Barbara Franklin, who has been a tireless advocate of beefing up smoking restrictions, said balconies and patios could be considered common areas because they belong to all condominium owners in a given complex.
"A condominium owner does not own their balcony or patio — the owner does not have exclusive control," Franklin told the council.
In a 4-1 vote, council members told city staff to pursue the least expensive of three public outreach options presented. Community Services Director Cherise Brandell told the council that the selected option, which includes running an article on the ordinance in the city's newsletter and sending a mailing to residents, would cost about $10,000 and cause the fewest problems for employees already juggling multiple projects. Another option that would have allowed the public to help craft the ordinance at a series of meetings, delaying the proposed law and costing about $20,000, Brandell said.
Vice Mayor John Boyle, the sole dissenter, said he wanted to do more public outreach or pass a less restrictive ordinance initially and then update it again at a later date.
"This is about what's the right way to create an ordinance that's going to regulate personal behavior," Boyle said. "This is going to be controversial to some people."
But Council Member Kelly Fergusson said the council already compromised at the October study session, giving staff direction to draft a relatively uncontroversial law.
"I was actually hoping for a far more aggressive ordinance — I might have preferred to ban smoking in those exclusive-use common areas," Fergusson said. The draft ordinance is scheduled to come before the council again in March, Brandell said at the meeting.
E-mail Jessica Bernstein-Wax at jbernstein@dailynewsgroup.com.
