Sebastopol to consider smoking ban in apartments

<p>The city of Sebastopol will consider revisions to its smoking ordinance Tuesday that would make it one of the toughest in the Bay Area, extending a smoke-free umbrella to apartment dwellers.</p><p>“We already don't permit smoking in public parks and playgrounds and what-have-you,” said City Manager Jack Griffin. “This ordinance is not all that much different, but it adds a whole new dimension of multi-family dwellings.”</p><p>The revised ordinance would include marijuana in its ban, regardless of whether it is medically prescribed or if recreational marijuana use is approved by California voters in November.</p><p>“The issue is second-hand smoke, the view that particularly in many cases the ventilation systems are not stand-alone per unit, the issue of the ability of smoke to travel from unit to unit,” Griffin said.</p><p>The reactions from smokers and landlords is varied.</p><p>Shea Vogt of Sebastopol thinks it is an infringement on his rights, but he also says it may be just the nudge he needs to quit.</p><p>“I want to quit smoking, but I also believe everyone should have the freedom to do what they wish,” said Vogt, who has lived in a Sebastopol apartment for seven years. “I believe it's leading to some kind of a police state.”</p><p>Joanne Radermach, who rents a house in Sebastopol, agrees with a smoking ban in apartment buildings.</p><p>“It'd be inconsiderate for people who don't smoke; it shouldn't be allowed,” Radermach said. “I wouldn't want to make people sick, but they should have a designated area.”</p><p>Greg Dabel, who manages 30 Sebastopol units owned by his family, said he is not a smoker and doesn't advocate smoking, but he has never seen a problem with smoking in the complexes that has not been able to be resolved.</p><p>“It's an unfair burden on smokers who rent and will be forced to move,” Dabel said. “It is a burden in the sense they will have to relocate and probably outside of the city limits.”</p><p>Apartment owner Ann Harris said she always has had smoke-free regulations in her 28 units in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa and they have been more of an attraction to renters than a problem.</p><p>“Everything I have is full,” Harris said. “If I put something up for rent, I have it rented. The last one was vacant for two days. The smoking ban has not created a problem for me.”</p><p>She said it is also a matter of cleanliness, from discarded cigarette butts to the odor of smoke.</p><p>“If you have a smoker and they move out, you have to replace the carpet, you have to replace the pad; it is really expensive,” Harris said. “I have no problem saying ‘no smoking.'”</p><p>Under local and state laws, smoking in Sebastopol already is prohibited in workplaces, public areas such as parks, retails stores, restaurants and bars and in the common areas in apartment buildings. Smoking is restricted in hotels in the city.</p><p>About the only places left for smokers are single-family homes, yards and cars. Smoking is allowed while walking down the street, but the smoker must keep moving, Griffin said.</p><p>Under the proposed revisions, landlords would be required to write no-smoking restrictions into all new leases. There is a 14-month grace period for existing renters.</p><p>Landlords would have the option of setting up outdoor areas where smoking would be permitted.</p><p>Only the city of Belmont has such a strict smoking ordinance, which it passed in 2007, said Serena Chen of the American Lung Association in Oakland.</p><p>Many other cities, such as Rohnert Park, have requirements for a percentage of apartment units that must be smoke-free. In Rohnert Park's case, 50 percent must be smoke-free by June 2011.</p><p>“This is a brand-new area of smoke-free laws,” Chen said. “When you look at it, Californians spend 60 percent of their time at home. Smoke-free protections in workplaces and most public places do not hold a candle to the amount of time we spend at home.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.</p>