Smoke Free: Laguna Beach First City In Orange County To Ban Butts

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Breathe free, Laguna residents.

A new ordinance stating that visitors and residents of Laguna Beach can only light up on private property was passed unanimously by Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday night.

In a packed city council chamber, no less than ten residents spoke on the ordinance prior to vote, stating their thoughts on the ban. A representative from the American Lung Association was present, as well as high school students learning a valuable lesson in community government.

"I support the ban for two reasons: Environmental impacts and second-hand smoke. The environment gets pretty trashed when people through their cigarette butts on the ground," Curran Hendrikson, a LBHS student and football player said. "It all leads to the ocean."

The citywide ordinance will ban smoking in all public spaces, including sidewalks, bike paths, alleyways, parking structures and in apartment and condominium common areas.

Considered a misdemeanor, fines for smoking in public would start at $100 per offense and raise to $500 for a third-strike smoking violation within a 1-year period of time, according to the ordinance.

According to the Orange County Register, 70 cities have adopted some sort of smoking ban. Manhattan Beach, another beach city which Laguna Beach looked to in modeling their ordinance, passed a similar city-wide smoking ban in 2014.

After the January 24 City Council meeting where the city wide ordinance was first named, city analyst Ryan Hallett built his report, noting that Laguna Beach had failed as a city for its control of the tobacco problem.

Read: Laguna Beach Fails, SoCal Lags In State Of Tobacco Report

The city of Laguna Beach cannot control smoking on private property, however Mayor Toni Iseman had suggestions for sober-living houses, which often receive smoking complaints from neighbors.

Her solution for those facilities? Smokeless ash trays.

"I think every rehab and sober-living house should have at least three," she said.

The ordinance that bans smoking throughout Laguna Beach's public spaces will go into effect next month, at the second reading in June. The ban will apply to:

• Vapes
• E-cigarettes
• Marijuana
• All tobacco related products

Signage, depicting the Smoke Free Laguna Beach, will follow the ordinance and be part of the city-wide measure to educate visitors and residents of the new laws.

City of Laguna Beach Photo