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PTC to revisit smoke ban vote

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@thecitizennews.com

The proposed indoor smoking ban for Peachtree City will be considered again by the city council Thursday night.

Council deadlocked 2-2 on the last version of the ordinance at its Aug. 5 meeting as council members Steve Rapson and Judi-ann Rutherford said they didn’t support an exemption for bars because of the risk smoking poses to public health.

At that meeting, a proposed change was suggested to allow restaurants and bars to allow smoking in separately enclosed areas that are on separate ventilation systems than the rest of the establishment.

The latest version of the ordinance doesn’t include such language, which would have to be added by the council Thursday night.

The reason for the 2-2 deadlock at the last council meeting was because councilman Murray Weed was absent, preventing the possibility of a tie-breaking vote among the three council members in attendance and Mayor Steve Brown.

In addition to banning smoking in public places, the ordinance would also prohibit lighting up in places of employment including common work areas, meeting rooms, hallways, employee lounges, restrooms and all enclosed facilities.

A recently-made significant change to the ordinance removes the previously added requirement for commercial establishments to have ventilation systems that provide positive pressure. That would have meant installing equipment that forces air to rush out from the restaurant when the doors are opened.

While that was originally put in to keep outdoor smoke from filtering inside, it was later determined that many businesses in the city couldn’t comply with it because of the prevalence of older HVAC systems.

The proposed ordinance calls for up to a $50 fine for persons who smoke in a prohibited area. If a manager, owner or operator of an establishment fails to comply with the ordinance, the first fine would be up to $100 for a first violation, up to $200 with a second violation within a year and up to $500 for a third violation within one year.

Such persons could also potentially lose any permit or license granted by the city for those premises, such as a business license or alcohol sales permit.

In addition to the exemption for bars, the current version of the proposed ordinance also exempts the following areas from the smoking ban:

 Private residences, except when used as a licensed child care, adult day care or health care facility.

 Hotel and motel rooms designated as smoking rooms as long as no more than 20 percent of a hotel’s or motel’s rooms can be designated for smoking.

 Retail tobacco stores.

 Private and semiprivate rooms in nursing homes and long-term care facilities where each resident of the room is a non-smoker and the room is separately ventilated.

 Outdoor areas except within 10 feet of an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited to “insure that tobacco smoke does not enter the area through entrances, windows, ventilation systems or other means.”

 Facilities owned by private clubs with no persons under age 18 permitted.