Rob Dowdy, Shelbyville News Staff Writer
A significant change to Shelbyville’s proposed smoking ordinance could give local businesses more freedom in choosing whether or not to go smoke-free.
Before the Shelbyville Common Council’s regular meeting Monday night, city attorney Brett Haacker announced that “a self-contained bar area” has been added to the list of exemptions in the proposed ordinance. Those exemptions include private residences that do not double as child or adult care facilities, private vehicles not being used in the service of an employer, bars or taverns that do not allow anyone under 18 years old to enter and private clubs.
As it is currently written, the proposed ordinance would ban smoking in all public places within the city.
The proposed ordinance defines a self-contained bar area as “completely enclosed and separate from the remainder of the facility by solid floor to ceiling walls and doors and/or windows that must remain closed except for entry and exit of persons to and from the area, or where a window or door ventilates to the outside of the building.” The area must also serve alcoholic beverages and not allow customers or employees under the age of 18 to enter.
Haacker said the new exemption stays true to the meaning of the ordinance by giving businesses the opportunity to allow smoking, only if they create an area in which “smoke cannot get in or out.”
Mayor Scott Furgeson said the added exemption will give “more flexibility” to restaurants that don’t want to lose smoking customers and also have the means to isolate them from the rest of the establishment.
Councilman Jeff Sponsel previously said the ordinance is likely to be read at the council’s April 3 meeting. If it passes first and second reading before the council, it could go into effect by Aug. 1.
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