City Council firms up ban on smoking

CITY HALL — After some pre-vote tinkering, the City Council Tuesday finalized its adoption of an ordinance that will limit some outdoor public smoking in Burbank.

The ban passed by the same 3-2 margin as when it was preliminarily adopted on March 27, with Councilmen Dave Golonski and David Gordon opposed.

The law, which will go into effect in mid-May, bars smoking in outdoor dining areas, parts of downtown Burbank, the Chandler Bikeway, city parks and facilities, public transit stations and at outdoor events.

Before first passing the ordinance in March, council members decided to reduce the buffer zone between smokers and pedestrian pathways from 20 feet to 5 feet in order to provide restaurant owners with more flexibility.

Tuesday, in another change to the original draft, the council reduced the allowable square footage that a business can designate as a smoking from 50% to 40% of the restaurant.

That means, for instance, that the owner of a 1,500-square-foot restaurant could set aside a 600-square-foot outdoor smoking area.

But business owners can apply for an exception if they can demonstrate that their business caters primarily to smokers — such as smoke shops and lounges.

"I think the changes we made were minor, but will improve the overall effectiveness of the ordinance," Vice Mayor Marsha Ramos said.

In another deviation from the original proposal, the ordinance will not limit smoking in outdoor common areas of multi-family residential complexes — like apartments and condominiums. City planning staff members had recommended against such a ban, arguing that public input showed that residents viewed complexes as more of a private than a public area, Principal City Planner Michael Forbes said.

Smoking will be prohibited, however, in all enclosed common areas and within five feet of entryways, he added.

The council also excluded bus stops from the smoking ban, though smoking is prohibited aboard public vehicles.

Golonski unsuccessfully urged the council, before the vote, to put the ordinance up for a another reading at a subsequent council meeting in order to consider the potential ramifications of some of the final changes.

"I think there were substantial changes made that no one had a chance to comment on," he said.

"I suspect we're going to hear from businesses that were impacted on some of the changes were made. I think the changes may have lessened the impact on some but greatly increased the impact on others."

Once the ordinance goes into effect in May, business owners will have 30 days to post necessary signage informing patrons of the ban.

QUESTION

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