SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Petition Could Snuff Out Smoking Ban

A group opposed to a city ordinance that would snuff out smoking in public buildings says it has collected enough signatures to keep the ordinance from taking effect on Friday.

Kelly Kuntz, leader of the Committee for Better Restaurants, Business and Jobs, said Wednesday that the group had more than the 1,215 names of registered-voter residents required to put the ordinance on hold.

“We’re looking to run a 25% to 30% surplus to the required amount,” Kuntz said. “I think I’m going to come in with around 1,500 to 1,600” names.

Kuntz said he plans to bring the petition to the city clerk’s office at 4 p.m. today.

The group, composed of fewer than a dozen people whose restaurants and businesses would be affected by the ban, started the petition drive two weeks ago in response to the City Council’s adoption of the far-reaching ordinance on Aug. 24.

The ordinance prohibits smoking in virtually “all enclosed areas available to and customarily used by the public” and bans cigarette vending machines. Smoking would still be allowed in bars that are separately ventilated or closed off from other public areas.

Also, the ordinance calls for a complete ban on smoking in restaurants to be phased in over a year. After that, restaurants able to show a drop in business resulting from the ban could ask the council for a variance.

But members of Kuntz’s group say such allowances will not be enough to save some businesses from going under financially. They say they’ll lose customers who will drive to businesses in nearby communities where smoking is allowed.

The Laguna Hills and South County chambers of commerce also have gone on record in opposition to the ordinance.

Today is the last day that Kuntz’s group--which has had people collecting signatures outside supermarkets, door-to-door, in restaurants and other businesses--can submit the petition in an attempt to block the ordinance.

If the city clerk’s office determines on a preliminary count that the petition has the required number of signatures, the ordinance will be put on hold. The petition then will be submitted to the county Registrar of Voters, which has 30 days to verify that the signatures are those of Laguna Hills residents who are registered voters.

If the petition is ruled valid, the council will be required to put the ordinance before voters in a referendum at a special election or the next regular election in June, said Don White, the city’s administrative services director.

Kuntz said he plans to use the interim period to strengthen opposition among business people, many of whom have not shown much interest in the ordinance.

“If I can get it qualified on the ballot,” he said, “then we’ll have a chance to breathe and I can call all the businesses and ask them, ‘What do you want to do about this?’ ”