YORBA LINDA : Smoking Ban to Go Through Channels

The City Council agreed Tuesday to begin the public hearing process for an ordinance that would ban smoking in public buildings but postponed deciding if residents will vote on the matter in November.

Councilman Henry W. Wedaa proposed the ban, referring to a city-sponsored survey in June that indicated more than 70% of the residents support a ban on smoking in all public places.

“Secondhand smoke is a killer,” Wedaa said. “More than 430,000 people die each year as a direct result of smoking. How many die in Yorba Linda, I wonder?”

Councilman John M. Gullixson said the matter should be decided by residents at the polls.

“I don’t have people knocking on my door” asking for a ban, Gullixson said. Gullixson said the survey sample of 400 residents does not accurately reflect the position of the city’s 28,000 voters.

But putting the issue on the ballot could cost between $10,000 and $25,000, an expense several council members were unwilling to incur.

“By the council (considering) an ordinance, we trigger the public hearing process,” said Councilman Mark Schwing.

Schwing also discounted Gullixson’s claim that the sample size was too small to gauge public opinion, noting that the council, lead by Gullixson, approved a $3-million gymnasium project based on the same poll.

The council agreed to order Community Development Director Pat Haley to write an ordinance, which will go to the Planning Commission, then the City Council. The council can still vote to place the issue on the November ballot, but to do so it must complete all the required paperwork, including holding the necessary public hearings, by June.

Haley said the soonest the Planning Commission could consider the ordinance is March 23.