By PAIGE E. WASSEL, Daily Journal staff writer
A smoking ban that would prohibit smoking in most restaurants and public places in Greenwood is up for debate by the city council.
Four of the seven city council members said on Friday that they support the ban. Their votes would be enough to pass it.
If it is approved at a meeting Monday and at a second meeting two weeks later, the ban could take effect before the end of the month.
If passed, the measure would make Greenwood the first city or municipality in Johnson County to go smoke-free.
A smoking ban in many public places in Indianapolis takes effect March 1.
In Johnson County, the ban would apply only to restaurants, businesses and other sites inside Greenwood city limits, which run as far south as Curry Road on State Road 135 and reach New Whiteland on U.S. 31.
Damon’s Grill, O’Charley’s, and Applebee’s on State Road 135 are among restaurants located farthest south within city limits that would be included in the ban.
But businesses located farther south that still have a Greenwood address wouldn’t fall under the new rules.
People who work in the city would no longer be able to huddle outside the doorway of a building to smoke. The proposal calls for smokers to move 25 feet away from the building.
Representatives of Partnership for a Healthier Johnson County will speak in favor of the ban, talking about economic and health benefits that would come with it, coordinator Jane Blessing said.
Smoking bans help lure businesses to the city by reducing health-care costs for potential employees and employers, Blessing said.
Bans in other cities have had a positive economic impact on businesses and restaurants, she said.
Council member Jessie Reed, who initiated the city’s proposal, said she thinks it will pass on Monday.
Restaurants, businesses and other sites affected by the ban would have 60 days to comply, she said.
Council members Bruce Armstrong, Bill Bless, Ron Bates and Reed said they were in favor of the measure as it’s written now, though they’re waiting to hear discussion on it.
Council member Ron Deer said he opposes the ban because it’s too wide-reaching. Some of the wording makes it unclear what places would be smoke-free, he said.
For example, the measure bans smoking at restaurants that have an attached bar. Bars that aren’t part of a restaurant aren’t banned. But Deer said it’s unclear if a bar serves food such as sandwiches and fried chicken which designation it would fall into.
The city attorney, who drafted the proposal at the direction of Reed, said businesses whose main purpose is to serve alcohol and happen to serve food, would not have to ban smoking.
Deer said he thinks private businesses should be able to make their own decision about whether to be smoke-free.
“We have no business telling private businesses how they choose to limit (smoking),” he said.
He said he would oppose the ban even if he weren’t a smoker.
Two other council members could not be reached.
The council might amend the ban to exempt some private clubs, such as a Moose lodge, Reed said.
The measure also bans smoking in enclosed places of employment and sets a limit on how many hotel rooms can allow the practice.
Currently, three school districts, Clark-Pleasant, Edinburgh and Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson, do not allow smoking on school grounds.
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