DeKalb Clean Air Ordinance Amendment Could Affect a Host of Outdoor Venues

The DeKalb County Board of Health recently submitted a proposal to the county's board of commissioners to amend the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. Currently, the ordinance has a variety of restrictions on indoor smoking in public areas, and the amendment would increase restrictions and include more outdoor areas.

According to the board of commissioner’s agenda minutes, the amended ordinance would “maintain the current smoking prohibitions and expand the prohibition to all outdoor areas …[including] parks and recreational areas which are owned, leased or operated by DeKalb County, all playgrounds, outdoor entertainment arenas, and within twenty (20) feet of seating, bleachers, or grandstands used by participants or spectators at outdoor sporting, recreational, educational, entertainment or other public events; all outdoor service lines and within twenty (20) feet of all outdoor public transportation stations, platforms and shelters in unincorporated DeKalb County…”

The amended ordinance has the potential to restrict smoking at county facilities such as Wade Walker Park and Hairston Park and at facilities like Davidson-Arabia Mountain and Preserve and Mystery Valley Golf, as well as a host of other parks and outdoor venues.

The amended ordinance won't affect Stone Mountain Park, said Jeanine Jones, the media relations contact for Stone Mountain Park. “We comply with the state ordinances and we also have self-imposed smoking restrictions.  Patrons are only allowed to smoke in the designated areas,” Jones said.

New concerns about the effects of smoking were raised when the DeKalb County Board of Health reported that “over 12,000 DeKalb County residents were hospitalized for smoking related illnesses in 2008, and three of the five leading causes of death in DeKalb County for persons 35 to 65 years of age are smoking-related.”  The information supplied by the Board of Health further stated that “a nonsmoker’s exposure to secondhand smoke increases his/her risk of heart disease by 25 to 30 percent.”

The amendment was on the scheduled to be voted on by Board of Commissioners at their June 14 meeting, but was deferred to a later session.

“The Board of Health made the recommendation to the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners and they will make the decision,” said DeKalb Board of Health Media Specialist Karen Robinson-Salley.