Cigar Weekly

Palm Desert to review code today

K Kaufmann
The Desert Sun

PALM DESERT - The tobacco shop that sparked a proposal to toughen Palm Desert's public smoking ordinance could be closing for good - but the City Council still plans to go forward with a review of the law at its regular meeting at 4 p.m. today.

Smokers Place, at 73-910 Highway 111, will be moving to Huntington Beach, according to a man at the store Wednesday who would not give his name.

Efforts to reach the owners were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.

The shop had been at odds with its next-door neighbor, Starlight Dance Center, over the smell of tobacco and secondhand smoke coming into the center, especially during children's classes.

"When they smoke, we can smell it," said Starlight owner Patty Williams. "We have some students who are allergic. They have to leave."

The city's attempts to broker a solution - and prevent similar problems in the future - led to the proposed revisions to the smoking ordinance, said City Attorney David Erwin.

The law now on the books requires the use of existing barriers or ventilation systems to eliminate secondhand smoke from areas adjacent to smoking areas, but stops at mandating owners or employers to pay for such modifications.

Under the revisions:

Smoking and nonsmoking areas could not share air conditioning, heating or ventilation systems, entries or doorways, or halls and staircases.

Designated smoking areas would not be allowed within 20 feet of commercial building entries.

Secondhand smoke would be legally classified as a nuisance, allowing private citizens to take civil actions in court to stop it.

While most cities in the Coachella Valley have laws prohibiting smoking in public places, the revisions to the Palm Desert ordinance would likely make it the strictest in the area.

"What we're hoping to do is protect the nonsmoker," Erwin said. "The idea is we would be aware at the time we establish a smoke shop that they don't have those ventilation systems that are common."

But Bert Bruning, owner of Palm Desert Tobacco on El Paseo, said the law might mean he couldn't offer a chair and a cigar to the out-of-town visitors.

"It's not right; it's getting carried away," Bruning said of the proposed revisions.

Barbara deBoom, president of the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce, also called for a more balanced approach.

"I think it is a sensitive area from a health standpoint, but also from a business standpoint," deBoom said. "To penalize everyone, I don't know if that's the answer."