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Town Looks To Restrict Smoking At Public Forums
By Lauren Puglisi
The Manchester Township Council wants to create smoke-free areas on public property.
Councilman Craig Wallis said the idea of limiting public smoking first arose when members of the towns' Little League asked the council to restrict patrons from smoking near playing fields.
"After sending out a draft ordinance on this topic, the universal consensus is that people throughout Manchester want to put a restriction on smoking at public forums without banning smoking entirely," said Township Business Administrator Connie Lauffer.
Council members feel the town would benefit from having designated areas, which would allow smokers an alternative outlet away from the crowd when attending public buildings or events.
Councilman Joseph Wennberg initiated the idea of building shelter areas for smokers during poor weather circumstances, but the upkeep behind building these confinements was initially believed to be too costly and time effective.
According to Lauffer, the best and most obvious resolution to this problem would be to create designated parking lots and/or specialized areas for smoking, far enough away from walkways to public buildings and playing fields.
Ultimately, members of the council agreed with Lauffer's proposition, but were still worried about how the restriction would be carried out.
"My major concern is that the township's restrictions on smoking at public spectrums will cause extra controversy," Wallis said. "I know that this will be very hard to enforce, especially when people from different towns visit our local playing fields and are unaware of Manchester's smoking limitations."
To try and defer confusion and any potential problems, the council decided that the only way Manchester's smoking restriction can be warranted is by having a clear message to the public, making them aware of the new smoking restrictions.
"I will send out another draft to inform the public that the only way this restriction will be enforced is when signs, which will later be handed out at the town's municipal building, are made visible to patrons at public properties that wish to restrict smoking," Lauffer said.
If Manchester's plan to limit public smoking is carried out, it will encompass the entire town. However, smoking on the town's school properties is already restricted thanks to the district's specialized enforcement laws related to unauthorized smoking.
The council plans to further discuss the proposed smoking restrictions at an upcoming meeting.
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