Stricter smoking ordinance on the ballot as Measure W

This Nov. 8, Sonoma voters will be asked to consider Measure W, a move to replace existing secondhand smoke protections in Sonoma with a stricter ordinance that constitutes a near total ban on smoking in public, including most outdoor areas, until now the one respite for smokers driven out of enclosed areas where smoking has been long against the law.

As written, Measure W will appear on the city ballots posing the following question.

“In order to more comprehensively protect the health and safety of the citizens of Sonoma, shall an ordinance be adopted that amends the City’s existing 1992 smoking ordinance to include more restrictions by prohibiting smoking in public places, multi-unit residences, hotels and motels, enclosed common areas, enclosed dining areas, outdoor recreational areas and parks, outdoor public places, outdoor dining areas, and within 25 feet of any area where smoking is prohibited?”

If approved, the ordinance would go into effect immediately, according to Assistant City Attorney Valerie Pistole, who worked with Sonoma City Council members to draft the updated ordinance.

The seeds of Measure W were planted in 2015, when the City Council looked into updating what members considered outdated second-hand smoke restrictions dating back to when voters originally passed an ordinance in 1992.

But in order to amend a voter-approved ordinance, the voters have to approve – hence Measure W. If approved by a simple majority, Measure W would cancel and immediately replace the existing 1992 ordinance with the one developed this year by City staff.

Local proponents of State Proposition 64 – which would legalize recreational marijuana use in California – should know that Measure W would prohibit all types of smoking, including marijuana and e-cigarettes, in all city parks and on all city sidewalks, as well as in all restaurant dining areas, whether inside or out. The protections against secondhand smoke would also extend to multi-unit dwellings such as apartments and duplexes.

Smoking would still be legal in private vehicles, single-family dwellings the backyards – and in what the new ordinance calls “designated smoking areas.”

Defiant smokers, if caught lighting up in any of the restricted areas, could be cited and fined $100. That could prove an even stronger deterrent to smokers if California’s Proposition 56 – which would raise current taxes on tobacco sales by $2 a pack – also passes this November.

The new ordinance contains language allowing for “designated public smoking places,” requiring each such area to be well-marked and to be 25-feet away from non-smoking areas. These would generally be located in areas such as apartment complexes, where the owner elects to provide an outdoor area for residents to smoke. Such designated areas would not be required, but only allowed, if the rules governing such spaces are followed.

“The provisions of the designated smoking areas are quite extensive,” says Pistole. “For example, the designated area must have signs, and must be within an unenclosed area. The designated areas will be selected by the legal owner of common areas of multi-unit residences.”

If approved, the smoking ban would bring Sonoma into line with the rest of Sonoma County. With its nearly 25-year-old ordinance still regulating local smoking habits, Sonoma has been one of the few place in the county where outdoor smoking in parks and restaurant patios is still allowed.

Cigarette and cigar smoke are often detected wafting through the Sonoma Plaza, or down the streets as pedestrians stroll the corridor of eateries with street-side patios. Should the new ordinance be approved, the new laws would quickly turn Sonoma from one of the most smoking-tolerant cities in Sonoma County, into one of the least.

Chewing tobacco would also be included in the restrictions.

No official opposition to Measure W has emerged.

Email David at david.templeton@sonomanews.com.