HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 04 (2024)ORDINANCE NO. 04 (2024)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND
BAR, CALIFORNIA, ADDING SECTION 12.00.470 (SMOKING
PROHIBITED IN CITY PARKS) TO DIVISION 2 (PARK RULES AND
REGULATIONS) OF CHAPTER 12.00 (PARKS AND RECREATION) OF
TITLE 12 (STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND PUBLIC PROPERTY) OF THE
DIAMOND BAR CITY CODE TO PROHIBIT SMOKING IN CITY PARKS.
WHEREAS, parks provide one of the few affordable entertainment options for
individuals and families; and
WHEREAS, tobacco use causes death and disease and impose great social
and economic costs; and
WHEREAS, exposure to secondhand smoke anywhere has negative health
impacts, and exposure to secondhand smoke can occur at significant levels
outdoors; and
WHEREAS, comprehensive smoke free laws have proven to be the only
effective way of eliminating secondhand smoke exposure; and
WHEREAS, California Health and Safety Code Section 104495, prohibits
smoking within a certain distance of playgrounds, tot lot sandbox areas, youth
sporting events, and authorizes cities to enact smoking bans that are more restrictive
related to smoking around playgrounds, tot lot sandbox areas, and youth sporting
events; and
WHEREAS, California Health and Safety Code Section 118880 declares that
tobacco smoke is a hazard to the health of the general public; and
WHEREAS, California Health and Safety Code Section 118910 states that
local governing bodies may completely ban the smoking of tobacco or may regulate
smoking in any matter not inconsistent with state law; and
WHEREAS, tobacco litter and matches dropped in parks are particularly
dangerous to young children who step on them or ingest them, sometimes while they
are still hot, and creates additional work for maintenance staff; and
WHEREAS, tobacco products are, in addition, poisonous to wildlife which
inhabit or visit the parks and are generally detrimental to the environment; and
WHEREAS, eliminating smoking in parks will ensure that nonsmokers may
breathe air free from the hazardous effects of secondhand smoke, will protect the
public's health, comfort and welfare and promote a healthier environment.
Ordinance No. 04 (2024)
NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Diamond Bar hereby
ordains as follows:
Section 1. The City Council finds that the above recitals are true and correct.
Section 2. Section 12.00.470 is hereby added to Division 2 (Park Rules and
Regulations) of Chapter 12.00 (Parks and Recreation) of Title 12 (Streets, Sidewalks
and Public Property) of the Diamond Bar City Code to read as follows:
Sec. 12.00.470 -Smoking prohibited in City parks.
(a) Purpose and Findings. The City Council finds that smoking of tobacco, or any
other weed, plant, or substance is a positive danger to health and a material
annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort and a health hazard to those present in
confined and unconfined spaces, and in order to serve the public health, safety,
and welfare, the declared purpose of this section is to prohibit the smoking of
tobacco products, or any other weed, plant, or other substances within the
boundaries of any public park.
(b) Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms, words and phrases have
the meanings as defined in this section, unless another meaning is clearly
apparent from the context:
City means the City of Diamond Bar.
Cannabis has the meaning set forth in California Business Professions Code
Section 26001, as that section may be amended from time to time.
Electronic Smoking Device means an electronic and/or battery -operated device
that can be used to deliver an inhaled dose of nicotine, or any other substance,
including any component, part, or accessory of such a device, whether or not
sold separately. Electronic Smoking Device includes any such 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.
Enforcement official shall have the same meaning as section 1.04.020.
Park shall have the same meaning as section 12.00.020 of this Code. The
Diamond Bar Center is excluded from this definition.
Smoke means the gases, particles, or vapors released into the air as a result of
combustionI electrical ignition, or vaporization, when the apparent or usual
purpose of the combustion, electrical ignition, or vaporization is human
inhalation of the byproducts, except when the combusting or vaporizing material
contains no tobacco, nicotine, marijuana, cannabis, cocaine, or heroin and the
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Ordinance No. 04 (2024)
purpose of inhalation is solely olfactory, such as, for example, smoke from
incense. The term Smoke includes, but is not limited to tobacco smoke,
electronic smoking device vapors, marijuana or cannabis smoke, crack cocaine
or heroin smoke.
Smoking means the release of gases, particles, or vapors into the air as the
result of combustion, electrical ignition, or vaporization and/or inhaling,
exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted, heated, or ignited cigar, cigarette,
cigarillo, pipe, hookah, Electronic Smoking Device, or any plant product,
including but not limited to tobacco and marijuana, intended for human
inhalation.
(c) Smoking Prohibited. Smoking is prohibited and is unlawful within all areas posted
as a no smoking area by the city by signs conspicuously posted at or near the
primary entrance(s) to a public place or area where smoking is prohibited,
including, but not limited to:
(1) within any park, including its parking lots.
(2) Within fifty (50) feet of any park perimeter, provided that if any such perimeter
encroaches on private property, this prohibition shall not apply to the private
property. This prohibition shall also not apply to any paved public sidewalk
immediately abutting the boundary of the park or to persons and vehicles
travelling along the public streets and sidewalks.
(d) Disposal of Smoking Waste. No person shall dispose of any tobacco product or
instrument including, but not limited to, cigarettes or cigars, or any part of a
cigarette or cigar, matches, Electronic Smoking Device, or any other combustible
substance, in any place where smoking is prohibited under this section.
(e) Administration. The no smoking regulations established by this section shall be
administered by any Enforcement Official.
(f) Violations and Penalties.
(1) Infraction. A violation of this section is an infraction and shall be punished
pursuant to Chapter 1.04 of this Code.
(2) Nonexclusive Remedies and Penalties. Punishment under this section shall
not preclude punishment pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 13002,
Penal Code Section 374.4, or any other law proscribing the act of littering or
smoking. Nothing in this section shall preclude any person from seeking any
other remedies, penalties or procedures provided by law.
(3) Nothing in this section shall preclude the enforcement of State and Federal
Laws that pertain to smoking.
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Ordinance No. 04 (2024)
Section 3. The adoption of this Ordinance is not a project within the meaning of
the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") Guidelines in that it (a) is an ordinance
of general policy and procedure and does not constitute a project within the meaning of
CEQA and (b) has no potential for resulting in either a direct or a reasonably foreseeable
indirect physical change in the environment. As such, this Ordinance is exempt from
CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), which states that CEQA
applies only to projects, and only to those projects which have the potential for causing a
significant effect on the environment.
Section 4. If any section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of
this Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall
not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby
declares that it would have passed this Ordinance, and each section, subdivision,
paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one (or
more) section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase had been declared
invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 5. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this
Ordinance and shall cause a certified copy of this Ordinance to be posted within fifteen
(15) days after this Ordinance is passed and adopted, in the Office of the City Clerk and
two additional public places, together with the vote for and against the same.
PASSED AND ADOPTED, at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of
Diamond Bar on this 6th day of August, 2024.
CITY OF DIAMND BAR
Mayor
ATTEST:
I, Kristina Santana, City Clerk of the City of Diamond Bar, California, do hereby certify
that the foregoing Ordinance was introduced Clt the regular meeting of the City Council
held on the 16th day of July, 2024, and was duly passed and adopted at a regular meeting
of the City Council held on the 6th day of August, 2024, by the following vote:
AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: Chou, Low, Tye, MPT/Teng, M/Liu
NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAIN: COUNCILMEMBERS: None
Kristina Santana, City Clerk