City bylaw will get tougher with beach smokers
Smokers have until July 18 to butt out on city beaches or face a $100 fine.
Council on Tuesday directed staff to step up efforts to enforce a local bylaw that bans people from lighting up in 14 such public spaces.
Although the rule has been in place since 2013, just five tickets have been written since it came into force, according to bylaw services supervisor Tina Siebert.
“We haven’t done a whole lot of enforcement, and I think a lot of it is because in 2013 when this bylaw was changed, there wasn’t a lot of education that this bylaw even existed, so it’s something we can certainly work on going forward,” she explained.
Siebert unveiled a plan that will see city staff prepare and deliver educational material to the public regarding the issue until July 4. That will be followed by a two-week grace period during which anyone caught breaking the law will receive a warning. Those warnings will become tickets as of July 18.
But Coun. Tarik Sayeed suggested staff skip the education period and warnings and proceed straight to tickets.
“I thought it’s quite clear in the community that if there’s a no-smoking sign, you should not be smoking. Why do we need to educate people and then give a ticket?” he said.
Sayeed also noted many beach guests are tourists who aren’t here long enough to benefit from the break-in period.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit floated the idea of finding a middle ground by creating designated smoking areas and steering offenders towards them.
“You see it on a cold winter’s day, people are outside of their office building huddled and smoking away,” he said.
“They’re used to being isolated, but we’re not giving them an option. We’re basically saying you can’t smoke at all, otherwise there’s a ticket.”
Council eventually voted 5-1 in favour of the program recommended by Siebert, with Sayeed the lone vote in opposition and Judy Sentes absent.
The issue of smoking on beaches was brought to council’s attention in May by local Girl Guides, who reported picking up 656 cigarette butts in a single afternoon at Skaha Lake Park.