Agoura Hills Municipal Code Ch. 4 Smoking in Public Places

Footnotes:

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Editor's note— Ord. No. 204, § 1, adopted Dec. 11, 1991, enacted provisions which pertained to smoking in public places. Such provisions, designated as Ch. 3, §§ 5300—5309, have been redesignated by the editor as Ch. 4, §§ 5400—5409, in order to avoid duplicative chapter and section numbers.

This chapter of the Agoura Hills Municipal Code may be referred to as the "Smoking Control in Public Places Ordinance" of the City of Agoura Hills.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

The purpose of this chapter is to:

(a) Protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places except in designated smoking areas; and

(b) Strike a reasonable balance between the needs of persons who smoke and the needs of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) Bar means an area which is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of such beverages. Although a restaurant may contain a bar, the term "bar" shall not include the restaurant dining area.

(b) Bingo establishments means privately owned facilities used by organizations operating bingo games pursuant to section 326.5 of the California Penal Code.

(c) Business means any sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes, including but not limited to retail establishments where goods or services are sold as well as professional corporations and other entities where legal, medical, dental, engineering, architectural or other professional services are offered or delivered.

(d) Customer service area means any enclosed area of any business establishment or public place to which customers or members of the public have access, including but not limited to hallways, queue areas, lobbies or portions of a dining area not occupied by a counter or tables.

(e) Designated smoking area means any enclosed area subject to the provisions of this chapter which is authorized hereunder to be designated for smoking.

(f) Dining area means any enclosed area containing a counter and/or tables upon which meals are served.

(g) Employee means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages or profit, and any person who volunteers his or her services for a profit, nonprofit, or governmental entity.

(h) Employer means any person, partnership, corporation, or governmental entity who employs the services of two (2) or more individual persons exclusive of owners, partners, corporate officers or persons working fewer than twenty (20) hours per week.

(i) Enclosed area means all space between a floor and ceiling which is enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doors or passageways) which extend from the floor to the ceiling, including all space therein screened by partitions which do not extend to the ceiling or non-solid "office landscaping" or similar structures.

(j) Nonprofit entity means any corporation, unincorporated association or other entity created for charitable, philanthropic, educational, political, social or other similar purposes, the net proceeds from the operations of which are committed to the promotion of the objects or purposes of the organization and not to private financial gain. A public agency is not a "nonprofit entity" within the meaning of this section.

(k) Place of Employment means any enclosed area under the control of a public or private employer as defined in subsection (h) above, which employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including but not limited to work areas, employee lounges, restrooms, conference and classrooms, employee cafeterias, hallways and employer-furnished high-occupancy motor vehicles. Place of employment does not include:

(1) A private residence unless it is used as a licensed child care or health facility.

(2) The dining area of a restaurant.

(l) Public place means any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted, including but not limited to banks, educational facilities, governmental facilities, shopping malls, health facilities, public transportation facilities, reception areas, restaurants, retail food production and marketing establishments, retail service establishments, retail stores, theatres and waiting rooms. A private residence is not a "public place."

(m) Restaurant means any enclosed coffee shop, cafeteria, luncheonette, tavern, cocktail lounge, sandwich stand, soda fountain, private or public school cafeteria or eating establishment, and any other eating establishment, organization, club, guesthouse, guest ranch or hotel, which gives or offers for sale food to the public, guests, patrons or employees as well as kitchens in which food is prepared on the premises for serving elsewhere, including catering facilities. The term "restaurant" shall not include a cocktail lounge or tavern if said cocktail lounge or tavern is a "bar" as defined in subsection (a) above.

(n) Retail tobacco store means a retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental.

(o) Smoking means burning, carrying, exhaling or inhaling any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, weed, plant or other smoking material in any manner or in any form, or operating any electronic cigarette.

(p) Sports arena means enclosed sports pavilions, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, tanning salons, roller and ice-skating rinks, bowling alleys, arcades and other similar places where members of the general public assemble to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic events or witness such activities.

(q) Theatre means any building not open to the sky which is primarily used for, or designed for the primary purpose of exhibiting any motion picture, stage presentation, drama, lecture, musical recital or similar performance.

(r) Common area at a shopping center means any outdoor common area of a shopping center accessible to and useable by the occupants or customers of more than one (1) retail establishment used as a lobby, outdoor eating area, play area, or gathering area with either seats, benches or a water feature such as a fountain.

(s) Dining area means a non-residential location where food or beverages are served by a business or routinely consumed by customers. This includes, but is not limited to, restaurant or bar seating areas, outdoor customer dining areas and patios.

(t) Electronic cigarette or e-cigarette means any electronic or battery operated device that delivers vapors for inhalation. This term shall include every variation and type of such devices whether they are manufactured, distributed, marketed or sold as an electronic cigarette, an e-cigarette, an electronic cigar, an electronic cigarillo, an electronic pipe, and an electronic hookah, or sold by or distributed by any other product name or descriptor.

(u) Outdoor service area means a place where people use or wait for services provided by a private or public entity. This includes, but is not limited to, bus stops, bank ATM lines, information kiosks and theater lines.

(v) Shopping center means any parcel of land used for retail sales by more than one (1) retailer that is jointly operated or which includes shared parking facilities.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93; Ord. No. 15-414, §§ 2, 3, 1-28-2015)

(a) Smoking shall be prohibited in all public places within the City of Agoura Hills during business or other such hours when the public has access to such public places, including but not limited to, the following places:

(1) Elevators.

(2) Rest rooms.

(3) All areas available to and customarily used by the general public in all businesses, governmental entities, and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including but not limited to professional and other offices, banks, hotels and motels.

(4) Restaurants as defined herein.

(a) The designation of a contiguous area within a restaurant that contains a maximum of fifty (50) percent of the seating capacity of the restaurant, including the area designated as a "Bar", as a designated smoking area; or

(b) The providing of separate rooms for smokers so long as the rooms designated for smokers do not contain more than fifty (50) percent of the seating capacity of the restaurant, including the area designated as a "Bar".

(5) Public areas of museums, galleries or libraries when open to the public provided, however, that this prohibition does not prevent the designation of a separate room for smoking in such areas.

(6) Any building not open to the sky which is used primarily for, or designed for the primary purpose of exhibiting any motion picture, stage, drama, lecture, musical recital or other similar performance, except when smoking is part of the stage production; provided, however, that this prohibition does not prevent the designation of a contiguous area containing a maximum of fifty (50) percent of any area commonly called a lobby as a designated smoking area.

(7) Public areas of enclosed sports arenas except in designated smoking areas.

(8) Bingo establishments, except in designated smoking areas.

(9) Every room, chamber and place of meeting or public assembly under the control of any board, council, commission, or committee of the city during such time as a public meeting is in progress.

(10) Waiting rooms, hallways, wards and semi-private rooms of health facilities, including but not limited to hospitals, clinics, physical therapy facilities, doctors offices, and dentists offices. In bed space areas of health facilities used for two (2) or more patients, smoking shall be prohibited unless all patients within the room are smokers and request in writing upon the health care facility's admission forms to be placed in a room where smoking is permitted.

(11) Polling Places.

(12) Public parks.

(13) Public sports fields.

(14) Outdoor service areas.

(15) The grounds of Agoura Hills City Hall, Library, and Recreation Center.

(16) Outdoor customer dining areas.

(17) Outdoor common areas at a shopping center.

(18) Outdoors within twenty-five (25) feet of any entrance or exit of any building open to the public.

(19) A bus, taxi cab, shuttle van, or other means of public transportation.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment or facility described in this section may declare the entire establishment or facility as a nonsmoking establishment.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93; Ord. No. 15-414, §§ 4, 5, 1-28-2015)

(a) Smoking shall be regulated in all places of employment within the City of Agoura Hills as provided in this chapter.

(b) Every employer subject to the provisions of this chapter shall adopt, implement, make known and maintain a written smoking policy which shall:

(1) Implement and carry out the provisions of this chapter.

(2) Prohibit smoking in auditoriums, classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, elevators, showrooms/sales floors and customer service areas to which the public has access.

(3) Provide and maintain separate and contiguous nonsmoking areas of not less than fifty (50) percent of the seating capacity and floor space in cafeterias, lunchrooms, and employee lounges or as an alternative provide, and maintain, separate cafeterias, lunchrooms and employee lounges for nonsmokers.

(4) Allow any smoking employee to smoke at his/her work station only if, in the employer's sole judgement, other employees will not be adversely affected.

(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply unless the employer causes signs or markings complying with section 5406 to be prominently placed in the location in which this section is to be enforced. However, the failure of an employer to cause the signs required by section 5406 to be posted shall constitute a violation of this chapter.

(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, every employer shall have the right to designate any place of employment, or any portion thereof, as a nonsmoking area.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, the following areas shall not be subject to the smoking restrictions of this chapter:

(1) Bars.

(2) Private residences, except when used as a licensed child care or health care facility.

(3) Hotel and motel rooms rented to guest(s) unless designated as nonsmoking rooms.

(4) Retail tobacco stores.

(5) Private clubs whose facilities are not available to the public.

(6) Restaurants, hotel and motel conference or meeting rooms while these places are being used for private functions, except when the persons or entities in charge of such private functions declare the meeting room or designated part thereof to be a nonsmoking area for the duration of the meeting.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment described in this section may declare that entire area or parts thereof as a nonsmoking area.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

(a) "Smoking" or "No Smoking" signs, whichever are appropriate, shall be clearly, sufficiently and conspicuously posted in every building or other place where smoking is regulated by this chapter, by the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of such building or other places. Such signs shall have letters of not less than one (1) inch in height or the international "No Smoking" symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a circle with a bar across it) not less than three (3) inches in diameter.

(b) Every theatre owner, manager, or operator shall conspicuously post signs in the lobby stating that smoking is prohibited within the theatre or auditorium.

(c) Every restaurant shall have posted at every public entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that smoking is prohibited.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who owns, manages, operates or otherwise controls the use of any premises subject to regulation under this chapter to fail to comply with any of its provisions.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to smoke in any area where smoking is prohibited by provisions of this chapter.

(c) Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall be guilty of an infraction.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

(a) Any owner, operator or manager of a business or other establishment subject to this chapter may apply to the city for an exemption to any provision hereof due to the existence of unusual circumstances or conditions which make compliance with this chapter financially or physically infeasible.

(b) Such exemption may be granted if the city manager, or his designee, finds that based upon the evidence presented by the applicant that it is financially or physically infeasible to comply with the requirements from which the exemption is sought.

(c) The city manager is authorized to promulgate administrative regulations to implement the exemption process. Such regulations may include a final appeal of his or her findings to the city council.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)

This chapter shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws.

(Ord. No. 204, § 1, 12-11-91; Ord. No. 238, § 1, 8-25-93)