Board set to ban smoking in parks

Township could vote to join state ‘Young Lungs at Play’ program

Township officials are preparing to join the growing list of local municipalities who have banned smoking in their public parks.

Upper Gwynedd township commissioners will vote next week whether to join the state “Young Lungs at Play” initiative, which prohibits smoking at parks in order to protect children.

“Young Lungs at Play’ is a program aimed to help communities create tobacco-free parks, playgrounds and recreational areas for children,” said Parks and Recreation Director Alex Kaker.

The program, administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, provides free signage to local municipalities to display at playgrounds and other public areas, which depicts a ‘No Smoking’ logo next to a silhouette of a child on a swing, amid the words “Young lungs at play! This is a tobaccofree zone” and details about how to quit tobacco.

Local municipalities that have signed on to the program in recent years have included Hatfield Township in 2008, Lansdale Borough in 2012, Lower Salford Township in 2014, Whitpain Town-

“Young Lungs at Play’ is a program aimed to help communities create tobaccofree parks, playgrounds and recreational areas for children.”

— Parks and Recreation Director Alex Kaker

ship in 2015, and Montgomery County last year, according to Kaker.

Upper Gwynedd’s current policy, which dates back to 1995, only bans smoking at the playground at the Parkside Place municipal complex, and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board began talks in November on expanding the ban on tobacco, tobacco products, and e-cigarettes to all parks and open space in the township.

During talks by the

board of commissioners last month, they asked whether open space would also be included in the proposed ban, and after a discussion on the pros and cons, the board voted to keep the open space included in the proposed ban. If approved, the ordinance would modify the current Chapter 134 of the township codebook, which sets out general parks and recreation rules.

“Violations would be handled similarly to those who do not leash their dogs, possess alcohol or create private gardens in our parks and open spaces,” Kaker said.

The commissioners discussed the ban briefly during

their Tuesday night workshop, and a formal motion to advertise the ordinance enacting the smoking ban will be on the agenda for the board business meeting on April 24. If approved that night, the ban could receive final approval at the board’s May 22 meeting, and signs could be posted “within a few weeks” after that vote, Kaker said.

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners also heard updates on several other parks-related items during the April 18 workshop. Work has begun on the construction of new courts for pickleball, a racquet sport similar to tennis, at the

township municipal complex, according to Township Manager Len Perrone.

Staff have also begun to hold meetings with Philadelphia-based consultant Buell Kratzer Powel, which was hired last month to evaluate the feasibility of a community center for the Parks department. Assistant Manager Mike Lapinski said the consultants met with an internal township task force and brainstormed features the building could have, such as classrooms, gym space, office and meeting rooms, and kitchen facilities for rental users.

“We talked about sites,

and programming, and the size of the building, and where it would fit on the site,” he said. “This is all meant to provide us with a preliminary design, and a budget, so that the board can decide whether we take this to the next phase.”

Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7:30 p.m. on April 24 at the township administration building, 1 Parkside Place. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.UpperGwynedd.org.