Restaurant Smoking Ban Snuffed in Laguna Beach : Health: Restaurateurs, hotel owners and others protest new proposal, so council forms a panel and retains its old ordinance.

Vehement protests by more than 150 people, many restaurant and hotel owners, persuaded the City Council on Monday night to reconsider one of the toughest anti-smoking proposals in Southern California.

Evidence that secondhand smoke is extremely dangerous had “led me to think Laguna would welcome a 100% ban on smoking in restaurants,” Councilwoman Lida Lenney said. “It just goes to show you how naive I am, folks.”

The proposed ordinance would have barred smoking in all indoor eating areas but not in bars that are separate from dining rooms. But the council voted unanimously to form a panel to study the issue and retain the city’s original, less rigorous smoking control ordinance. Council members also proposed working with neighboring cities to create an areawide smoking ban and what Lenney called “an island of clean air” in Southern California.

Hoteliers and restaurateurs, who had for weeks showered council members with cards and letters opposing the new proposal, packed the council chambers, warning that it would devastate business in a city financially dependent on tourism.

“If we lose any more business after this recession, we may not survive,” said Marc Pitz, whose family owns Dizz’s As Is. “If businesses in Laguna Beach don’t survive, then what will Laguna Beach become?”

But American Cancer Society spokesman Kirk Wilks said: “It sickens me to hear someone say profit is more important than a life. It’s a scary thought.”

Laguna Beach already has one of the most restrictive restaurant smoking ordinances in the county, requiring that 60% of every restaurant’s dining area be reserved for nonsmokers.

When the council two months ago signaled its intention to widen the ban, the news touched off a furious outcry in the business community, and battle lines were quickly drawn. Those concerned about the hazards of secondhand smoke opposed people opposed to further government intervention in business.

Both the Chamber of Commerce and the Laguna Beach Hospitality Assn., which represent 21 hotels and 75 restaurants in town, have strongly opposed the new ordinance. The old one, they said, was strict enough for a city such as Laguna Beach.

Many foes of the new measure, who sported “I (love) Laguna Beach” buttons and outnumbered proponents several times over Tuesday night, said the business community has already been hard hit by the recession and a slow tourist season.

“Please don’t put my employees out of work,” said Peter P. Phillips, general manager for the Surf & Sand beachfront hotel. “This year’s economy has done enough of that anyway.”

He said the occupancy rate this year has been the lowest in the hotel’s history.

But Cynthia Schafer, a Laguna Beach resident and volunteer for the American Lung Assn., said the city has a responsibility to prohibit smoking.

“I believe that it is no more of a right than allowing a restaurant to have raw sewage on the floor or asbestos hanging from the ceiling,” she said.

The City Council directed representatives of the Chamber, the Hospitality Assn. and the City Council to form a panel to create a plan that “would lead to a smoke-free environment in our community,” Councilman Robert F. Gentry said.

The council in the meantime left the current law intact.

The council also proposed involving Dana Point, Newport Beach, Capistrano Beach and Irvine in establishing an areawide smoking ban.

Restaurateurs have said further restrictions in Laguna Beach would place them at a disadvantage with competitors in neighboring communities, so they asked the council to wait until restaurant smoking is barred in nearby cities or statewide.

Restaurants in Newport Beach must reserve just 25% of their area for nonsmokers. The requirement in Dana Point, immediately south of Laguna Beach, is still less for nonsmokers: 20%.

As an indicator of the turbulence that might have been ahead, foes of the new proposal pointed to what happened in Beverly Hills in 1987 when it became the first Southern California city to prohibit all smoking in restaurants. After intense lobbying by restaurateurs, the City Council amended the law four months later to allow smoking in 40% of restaurant eating areas.

Laguna’s Proposed Smoking Ban

The tough anti-smoking ordinance tabled by the Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday would have:

* Prohibited smoking in indoor eating areas.

* Allowed smoking in bars where food sales are “incidental” and constitute less than 10% of gross receipts.

* Allowed smoking in restaurant bar areas separated from dining rooms. Smoking would be prohibited in bars within eating areas.

* Allowed smoking in patio dining areas.

* Allowed smoking in restaurant banquet rooms when stipulated in the contract between the restaurant and those renting the room.