In 2017 (effective March 12, 2018), the City Council approved Ordinance No. 23047 prohibiting smoking in bars and bingo parlors and prohibiting retail smoke shops within 300 feet of schools, universities and hospitals. The City Council subsequently requested staff to study and bring back additional regulations pertaining to parks and other outdoor public spaces.
City staff benchmarked other cities and learned the following:
• Fort Worth is the only large Texas city that allows smoking in parks.
• San Antonio and Arlington partially prohibit smoking in parks; e.g. pavilions, children playground, outdoor seating venues.
• Dallas, El Paso, Austin, and Houston fully prohibit smoking in parks – Dallas and Austin have exceptions for golf courses.
Therefore, city staff is proposing the following recommendations to Chapter 29.5, " Smoking," of the City Code: • Prohibit Smoking in all areas of City Parks, except for outdoor areas of golf courses and the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
• Parks Director may create objective rules to permit smoking in designated areas of parks.
Furthermore, the ordinance would define Park to be "the areas of land dedicated and used as parkland, or city- owned land used for a park or recreational purpose that is under the administrative control of the Park and Recreation Department. The term includes the botanic garden, buildings, playgrounds, athletic fields, nature preserves, swimming pools and parking lots, driveways, pathways, trails and other areas within a park. The term does not include the outdoor areas of a City golf course or the unenclosed areas of Will Rogers Memorial Center. " The Park Board voted to approve and support the attached ordinance at its March 28, 2018 meeting and recommended a 90-day implementation time frame after adoption by City Council. This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity. |
