Laguna Gives Smoking Ban Tentative OK : Law: Measure would prohibit smoking in the city’s restaurants by 1995. It would be among the toughest laws in the nation.

A controversial new law that would ban smoking in Laguna Beach restaurants by 1995 was tentatively approved by the City Council on Tuesday.

This city, which now requires that restaurant owners set aside 60% of a dining area for nonsmokers, already has the toughest smoking restrictions in Orange County. The new law, which would expand nonsmoking areas incrementally each year until the 1995 ban, would be among the toughest in the nation.

Laguna Beach Mayor Robert F. Gentry praised the council’s action.

“I think to have our city smoke-free by 1995 will be wonderful,” Gentry said.

If the measure gains final approval as expected next month, Laguna Beach would join about 30 other cities nationwide, most of them in Central or Northern California, which have either already banned restaurant smoking or are working toward that goal.

Laguna Beach “would rank right up there,” said Kevin Goebel, a spokesman for Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, a Berkeley group that tracks such laws nationwide. “It would be among the strongest in the country.”

The unanimous decision came after a year of controversy over what effect a smoking ban would have on local businesses. The debate pitted those concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke against business owners who said a ban would cost restaurants customers.

Proponents said public health must be the city’s first priority, while detractors urged the city to hold off unless similar legislation was enacted statewide. Business owners said a ban would place Laguna Beach restaurateurs at an unfair disadvantage since neighboring cities have less stringent smoking regulations.

The council considered a smoking ban last November but backed down when about 150 people appeared at council chambers to protest. No one spoke against the measure Tuesday night.

The ordinance was crafted by a council-appointed task force composed of local business owners and health-care workers. While all restaurant owners may still not be satisfied, task force representatives who shaped the proposed ordinance say it represents a workable compromise.

“It is not agreed upon by everybody, but the membership and the board of the (Laguna Beach) Hospitality Assn. recommended we go that route,” said Claes Andersen, president of the Hospitality Assn., which represents 21 hotels and 75 restaurants in town.

The new law would increase the amount of space restaurants must set aside for nonsmokers to 80% on Jan. 1, 1993, 90% a year later and to 100% on Jan. 1, 1995. The law would not apply to outdoor eating areas. Nor would it affect bars that are separate from dining rooms.

Last year, Laguna Beach officials proposed working with neighboring cities to create an areawide smoking ban, or what Councilwoman Lida Lenney called “an island of clean air” in Southern California. On Monday, Lenney said that plan never really got off the ground.

But Goebel said he feels certain that other Orange County cities will follow suit once Laguna Beach’s smoking ban is in place.