081 of 2006 - Enacting Chapter 15.30 prohibiting smoking in City parks, recreational areas, cemeteries & near mass •
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SALT LAKE CITY ORDINANCE
No. 81 of 2006
(No Smoking in City Parks, Recreational Areas, and Cemeteries, and Near Mass Gatherings)
AN ORDINANCE ENACTING CHAPTER 15.30 OF THE SALT LAKE CITY CODE,
PROHIBITING SMOKING IN CITY PARKS, RECREATIONAL AREAS, AND
CEMETERIES, AND NEAR MASS GATHERINGS.
WHEREAS, Salt Lake City Corporation(the "City")has authority to protect the public
health, welfare, and sanitation; and
WHEREAS, based on the findings of the Utah Legislature in Utah Code Section 78-38-
.5, the City hereby finds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)has determined
that environmental tobacco smoke is a Group A carcinogen, in the same category as other cancer
causing chemicals such as asbestos; and
WHEREAS, the EPA has determined that there is no acceptable level of exposure to
Class A carcinogens; and
WHEREAS, the United States Surgeon General has determined that the scientific
evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke; and
WHEREAS, reliable studies have shown that breathing side stream or secondhand smoke
is a significant health hazard, in particular for elderly people, individuals with cardiovascular
disease, and individuals with impaired respiratory function, including asthmatics and those with
obstructive airway disease; and
WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act,which requires that disabled persons
have access to public places and work places, deems impaired respiratory function to be a
disability; and
WHEREAS, the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey indicates that 87% of
Salt Lake County residents would support smoking restrictions at parks; and
WHEREAS, cigarette butts are not biodegradable and discarding cigarette butts and
tobacco onto the ground in places such as city parks, recreational areas, and cemeteries, and at
the locations of mass gatherings is unsightly, unclean, and particularly hazardous to small
children and animals who handle and sometimes ingest them,which can lead to serious health
effects; and
WHEREAS, littering in city parks and near mass gatherings, including littering of
cigarette butts, shall not be tolerated; and
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WHEREAS, smoke free parks are important for the health of children and adults; and
WHEREAS,because children imitate adult behavior, the elimination of smoking in
places such as city parks, recreational areas, and cemeteries, and near mass gatherings furthers
the goal of reducing youth smoking; and
WHEREAS, the Salt Lake Valley Board of Health, as a policy-making body designated
by statute to protect the public's health, has deemed it prudent, reasonable, and necessary to
support, advocate, and urge that municipal legislative bodies in Salt Lake County adopt an
ordinance: (1)protecting the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public parks,
gathering places, recreational areas, and plazas; and(2) guaranteeing the right of nonsmokers to
breathe smoke-free air, and to recognize that the need to breathe smoke free air shall have
priority over the desire to smoke; and
WHEREAS, the City finds that the prohibition of smoking in the City's parks,
recreational facilities, and cemeteries, and near mass gatherings serves to protect the health,
safety, and welfare of persons in the City.
NOW, THEREFORE,be it ordained by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah:
SECTION 1. That Chapter 15.30, Salt Lake City Code,be, and the same hereby is,
enacted to read as follows:
Chapter 15.30 Smoking Prohibited in City Parks, Recreational Areas, and Cemeteries,
and Near Mass Gatherings
15.30.010. Definitions
A. "City park" means and includes city-owned parks, public squares, ball diamonds, golf
courses, soccer fields, and other recreation areas, Library Square, city-owned cemeteries and
trails, but not designated smoking areas specified by the city.
B. "Mass gathering"means an outdoor assembly of 100 or more people on city-owned
property that reasonably can be expected to continue for two or more hours.
C. "Smoke"or"smoking"means and includes: possession, carrying, or holding a lighted
pipe, cigar, or cigarette of any kind, or any other lighted smoking equipment, or the lighting or
emitting or exhaling of smoke of a pipe, cigar, or cigarette or any kind, or of any other lighted
smoking equipment.
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15.30.020. Prohibitions
Smoking is hereby prohibited in city parks, light-rail train stations, within twenty-five
(25) feet of bus stops, and within fifty(50) feet of mass gatherings. A violation of this ordinance
is an infraction punishable by a fine not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00)but not by
imprisonment. Police officers shall have the discretion to issue a"warning" if they deem it is in
the best interests of the city for the first offense.
15.30.030. Exceptions
A. American Indian/Alaska Native Ceremonies
1. A person is exempt from the restrictions of this chapter if the person:
a. Is a member of an American Indian/Alaska Native tribe whose members are
recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States
to American Indians/Alaska Natives who are members of those tribes;
b. Is an American Indian/Alaska Native who actively practices an American
Indian/Alaska Native religion, the origin and interpretation of which is from a traditional
American Indian/Alaska Native culture;
c. Is smoking tobacco using the traditional pipe of an American Indian/Alaska
Native tribal religious ceremony, of which tribe the person is a member, and is smoking
the pipe as part of that ceremony; and
d. The ceremony is conducted by a pipe carrier, American Indian/Alaska Native
spiritual person, or medicine person recognized by the tribe of which the person is a
member and by the American Indian/Alaska Native community.
2. A religious ceremony using a traditional pipe under this section is subject to any
applicable state or local law, except as provided in this section.
B. First Amendment Activities
A person is exempt from the restrictions of this chapter if the person is smoking or using
smoking materials to exercise protected First Amendment activity, such as smoking or use of
materials for bona fide religious purposes.
15.30.040. Posting of Signs
"No smoking" signs or the international "No Smoking" symbol (consisting of a pictorial
representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it) shall be
clearly and conspicuously posted in every city park.
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. That this Ordinance shall take effect on the date of
its first publication.
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Passed by the City Council of Salt Lake City,Utah, this 14th day of
November , 2006.
CHAIRPE SON
ATTEST:
APPROVED AS TO FORM
CHIEF DEPUTY CITY RECO ER Salt take City Attorneys OMh0
Date � - I -
By
Transmitted to the Mayor on I I -2,2-06
Mayor's Action: I Approved. Vetoed.
MAYOR
ATTEST:
CHIEF DEPUTY CIT RECORDER
. 101111S%
(SEAL) ,r
I..
Bill No. 81 of 2006
Published: 12-2-06
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