Council to limit activities at parks
POTTSTOWN » Some rule changes are planned for borough parks in the new year, including restrictions on tobacco and vaping use, balloons and large group gatherings.
According to a legal notice published in the print edition of The Mercury, borough council will vote on the new rules at its Feb. 8 meeting, which will be conducted virtually due to COIVD-19 safety protocols.
The proposals include a ban on all tobacco “and vapor producing products” within 25 feet of all playgrounds and sports courts in all borough parks.
“It is widely-accepted that young lungs at play do not need exposure to cigarette smoke,” Parks and Recreation Director Michael Lenhart wrote in an email response to a query from MediaNews Group.
The new rule “defines an area around playgrounds and sports courts which is to be smoke free as these are the ar
eas in which one would expect to encounter groups of children. Strengthening this ordinance,” Lenhart wrote, “provides for a healthier environment for a more vulnerable group and ensures equal opportunity for play for youth with respiratory conditions that put them at a higher risk for secondhand smoke, especially in the context of active recreation.”
The new rules also ban the “deliberate launch of decorative balloons or airborne sky lanterns” from parks.
According to a 2019 study by the University of Michigan, “a single balloon can travel thousands of miles and end up polluting an aquatic, marine, or terrestrial ecosystem. A bird, fish, or sea turtle could also fatally mistake the resulting balloon debris for food and/or get entangled in the long balloon ribbons or strings. In the case of a mass balloon release, common at weddings, graduations, memorials, and holiday events, hundreds or even thousands of balloons can be released simultaneously, causing great environmental harm.”
“The number of balloons found on beaches and coastlines has reportedly tripled over the past decade. In 2017, the Alliance of the Great Lakes reported finding 3,604 balloons on Lake Michigan and 7,196 throughout all of the Great Lakes,” the study reported.
“In a 2016 report issued from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the World Economic Forum, it was stated that if the current rate of plastic pollution continues, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050.”
Lenhart also pointed to rules about large group gatherings in parks.
With COVID-19 concerns driving more people outdoors in 2020, Lenhart wrote that “we observed evidence of a greater number of large, organized groups using park pavilions for gatherings without contacting the Parks and Recreation Department and obtaining permits or paying associated fees as would otherwise be appropriate. This is theft of services,” he wrote.
“The ordinance revision will make it easier to identify and fine groups in violation and will make it possible for police to do so without the necessity for parks and recreation staff to be on site and observe in order to make a professional judgement as to what constitutes unauthorized use,” Lenhart explained.
“I should note that informal or casual use of these facilities by smaller groups and regular park users is contemplated as something that can and should occur without permits and fees and the ordinance better defines that as well to ensure that this can continue,” he wrote.
Additional rule changes will ban skateboarding, roller-blading, inline skating, using a scooter or riding a bike on any borough tennis courts or in Smith Family Plaza in front of borough hall.