Council bans outdoor smoking in some areas

Those puffs of smoke that travel from a nearby cigarette will no longer plague nonsmokers in Thousand Oaks now that the City Council has passed an ordinance banning smoking outdoors in places such as gardens, playgrounds and other gathering places.

The ordinance prohibits smoking at any playground and 25 feet around a playground, any public garden, any outdoor service area, the grounds of the Civic Arts Plaza, the public libraries, common areas at a shopping center, within 25 feet of an entrance or exit of any building open to the public, at any outdoor gathering area of an event or in a bus, taxi or any public transportation.

There can be designated smoking areas outside the Civic Arts Plaza or a public gathering event. The smoking ban is in effect an hour before and an hour after the public event.

The definition of an outdoor service area includes bus stops, ATM lines, information kiosks and theater lines.

On June 24, the council voted 5-0 to pass the outdoor smoking measure. The proposed ordinance was modified by a vote of 3-2 to make tobacco shops exempt and to include special use permits for outdoor dining areas.

Councilmembers Claudia Bill-de la Peña and Dennis Gillette opposed the amendment to allow restaurants with outdoor dining areas to apply for exemptions because they said it would weaken the ordinance. Councilmember Andy Fox said the case-by-case special use permits would make the ordinance more flexible.

Violations of the ordinance are punishable by a fine not to exceed $100 for the first offense to $500 for the third offense in a year. The ordinance holds business owners responsible if their patrons are smoking.

According to a report provided by City Attorney Amy Albano to the City Council, the U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that smoking harms every organ in the body and each year an estimated 438,000 people in the U.S. die prematurely from smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke, making tobacco use the nation's leading cause of preventable death.