OJAI : Leaders to Consider Strict Smoking Law

The Ojai City Council tonight will consider a variety of approaches to toughen its smoking ordinance, including a possible smoking ban on city sidewalks, in Libbey Park and all other public places except bars and tobacco shops.

If the council were to adopt such tough measures, Ojai would have the strictest no-smoking law in the county, City Manager Andrew Belknap said.

“We’ve drafted an ordinance based on the (one adopted by) Moorpark and taken it one step further,” Belknap said.

Although the council will discuss smoking law amendments tonight, Belknap said the council is expected to make a decision on several proposed amendments as soon as next month, he said.

“We’re trying to give them (council members) as much information as we can” before they vote to amend the existing ordinance, Belknap said.

The current law, adopted in 1987, allows smoking in most public places, although it requires no-smoking areas in public facilities and businesses, such as restaurants, the city manager said.

The Moorpark ordinance adopted in July bans smoking in restaurants, workplaces and virtually all enclosed public places.

If the outdoor alternative is preferred by a majority of the Ojai City Council, the city’s anti-smoking ordinance would become one of the strictest in the state.

Belknap said his staff would incorporate any recommendations made by council members tonight into a draft ordinance, and a public hearing on the issue would be scheduled for a future meeting.