Laguna Niguel Municipal Code Art. 7 Healthy Parks Ordinance

The purpose of this article is to:

(1) Protect the public health, safety and general welfare by prohibiting smoking in recreational areas under circumstances where other persons will be exposed to secondhand smoke;

(2) Assure a cleaner and more hygienic environment for the city, its residents, and its natural resources;

(3) Strike a reasonable balance between the needs of persons who smoke and the needs of nonsmokers, including children, to breathe smoke-free air, recognizing the threat to public health and the environment which smoking causes; and

(4) Recognize the right of employees, residents and visitors to the city to be free from unwelcome second-hand smoke;

(5) Provide for the public health, safety, and welfare by discouraging the inherently dangerous behavior of smoking around non-tobacco users, by protecting children from exposure to smoking where they live and play; and by protecting the public from nonconsensual exposure to secondhand smoke; and

(6) Supplement applicable state and federal laws pertaining to smoking and not to duplicate, contradict, or frustrate such laws. This article shall be construed consistently with that intention.

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)

This article is titled the "Healthy Parks Ordinance."

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)

[The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:]

Electronic cigarette means an electronic and/or battery-operated device, the use of which may resemble smoking, which can be used to deliver an inhaled dose of nicotine or other substances. "Electronic cigarette" includes any such electronic smoking device, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as an electronic cigarette, an electronic cigar, an electronic cigarillo, an electronic pipe, an electronic hookah, or any other product name or descriptor. "Electronic cigarette" does not include any product that has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for sale as a tobacco cessation product and is being marketed and sold solely for that approved purpose.

Recreational area means any city-owned public area, open to the public for recreational purposes regardless of any fee or age requirement, including, for example, but not limited to parks, picnic areas, playgrounds, gardens, athletic fields, walking paths, hiking trails, amphitheaters, bike paths, horseback riding trails, sports facilities, skateboard parks, stadiums, and other open spaces.

Smoking or to smoke means holding or possessing a lighted pipe, a lighted hookah pipe, a lighted cigar, a lighted cigarette, a lighted hookah, an operating electronic cigarette, or other similar type of device, or the lighting of a pipe, hookah, cigar, cigarette or similar type of device containing tobacco, tobacco product, nicotine, spices, or any other plant or herbal materials, including marijuana. "Smoking" also includes the use of an electronic cigarette device which creates a vapor or aerosol, in any manner or in any form.

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)

Smoking is prohibited in all recreational areas.

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)

No person shall intimidate, harass, or otherwise retaliate against any person who seeks to attain compliance with this article. Moreover, no person shall intentionally or recklessly expose another person to secondhand smoke in response to that person's effort to achieve compliance with this article.

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)

(a) Violations of this article shall be an infraction under the provisions of the Laguna Niguel Municipal Code and shall be punishable for the first conviction by a fine of not more than $100.00, for a second conviction within a period of one year by a fine of not more than $200.00, and for a third or any subsequent conviction within a period of one year by a fine of not more than $500.00.

(b) The remedies provided by this article are cumulative and in addition to any other remedies available at law or in equity.

(Ord. No. 2014-176, § 2, 6-17-14)