Smoking Ban At Beaches, Parks Supported By Sarasota City Commission

SARASOTA, FL — Sarasota city commissioners unanimously gave their initial approval of a smoking ban on the city’s public beaches and in city parks.

They passed two ordinances — one prohibiting smoking on beaches, the other in parks — on their first reading at their Tuesday meeting.

In June, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 105 into law, permitting cities and counties to prohibit smoking at their beaches and parks. The law builds on the state constitutional amendment, the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act, which banned indoor smoking at restaurants and workplaces.

Before going into effect in Sarasota, the new laws must be approved in a second vote by commissioners following another public hearing at a future meeting. If approved, people will only be allowed to smoke unfiltered cigars at the city’s parks and beaches.

“I was just at the beach…and as I’m pulling up to the beach I see two people, a husband and wife, get out of their car, and they’re walking to the beach with cigarettes in their hand," Commissioner Kyle Battie said. “Me, myself, I just think it’s disgusting.”

He added, “I hate cigarette smoke.”

Charles Denault, chair of the Tobacco Free Partnership for Sarasota County, addressed commissioners during the public hearing.

“While there are few things more disgusting than finding cigarette butts in our beautiful parks and on our beautiful beaches, the butts themselves take up to 10 years to degrade and during this period they leak dangerous chemicals,” he said.

During their conversation, commissioners favored creating designated smoking areas at parks and beaches.

The commission directed the city attorney to draft a resolution designating parking lots at beaches and parks as smoking areas and to bring it before Sarasota’s Parks, Recreation and Environmental Protection Board for recommendation.