SURF CITY — Although a beach smoking ban hasn’t yet come to a vote before Town Council (nor is one scheduled), Mayor Doug Medlin stated he’s thinking about the city’s choices after receiving substantial comments from residents who’ve complained of cigarette butts littering the island shores and nearby roads.
‘ Beach sweep’ and’Street sweep’
After and community’ beach sweep’ and’street sweep’ events because of October, the mayor published a survey on his Facebook page asking citizens if they supported a ban. Over 6,500 people voted, 68 per cent of whom considered there should be no smoking on the shore.
Medlin stated that although second-hand smoke is a problem, the more widespread criticism has focused around littering. Sally Edens, a part of the city’s planning board, agrees.
State law supports the ban of smoking in people
Nearby, Topsail Beach doesn’t have a comparable policy and isn’t currently contemplating one, based on Jennifer Beard, the city’s administrator. Further south, Wrightsville Beach embraced a no-smoking ordinance on its shore strand after a 2012 referendum.
Even though Carolina Beach adopted a similar ordinance, it chose to hold police off until it obtained approval from the nation. Following Carolina Beach Town Clerk Kim Ward, the city never embraced the ban following talks with its lawyer, who stated there was”no enabling legislation that would allow you to enforce that policy.”
North Carolina General Statute 130A-498,
however, says that local authorities may prohibit smoking in public areas; a listing of exemptions doesn’t consist of public beaches.
Additionally, it claims that a policy or rule adopted by an entity working powers of a regional board of health, which in this situation is that the Pender County Board of Commissioners,” must be approved by an ordinance adopted by the Board of County Commissioners of the county to which the rule applies.”
Chairman George Brown said Thursday he’d delay remark until Surf City decided on the matter and came back to the county with an official petition if such a request was necessary.
Since the statute reads, employing smoking limits through the board of health rules signifies just one of 3 choices. It seems the town may even adopt and enforce ordinances or policies aside from bothe board health principles. The particular mechanism Surf City uses to apply the ban could depend on if Medlin and Town Council cicitesealth or mess concerns when drawing an ordinance.
Medlin stated he and city employees are still in the process of collecting information and exploring other North Carolina shore towns which have implemented similar legislation. However, he explained that he favours a ban on particular sections of the shore rather than the full beach.
In 2018, an ordinance was adopted to set a zone forbidding smoking, vacating and alcohol intake to a quarter-mile stretch of shore which lies between Greensboro Avenue and Kinston Avenue, which is close to the Surf City Pier, according to Police Chief Ron Shanahan.
You might want to read about Cigarettes are the single greatest source of Ocean Trash