Santa Barbara appears on its way to becoming mostly smoke-free, with the city’s ordinance committee on Tuesday recommending that smoking be banned at beaches, parks, trails, sports fields, Stearns Wharf, and parking lots, among other public places. Vaping would also be prohibited.
The ordinance committee, composed of councilmembers Randy Rowse, Frank Hotchkiss, and Cathy Murillo, voted 2-1 to update the city’s 14-year-old smoking laws with the new restrictions, with Hotchkiss dissenting. Their recommendation will soon go to the full city council for a final vote. But before it does, the committee will hold a separate hearing on whether to ban smoking in the outdoor seating areas of bars and restaurants.
In her presentation Tuesday, assistant city administrator Nina Johnson noted the multiple Stearns Wharf fires that have been caused by discarded cigarettes, and she talked about the thousands of butts collected during annual beach cleanups. Penny Owens with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper said volunteers picked up more than 12,000 during a recent one-day event. Johnson explained that the city’s smoking ordinance is out of sync with state law and is overall far too lenient, according to the American Lung Association. The city received a “D” grade during the health agency’s latest assessment of individual communities’ smoking laws.