By Donald Wittkowski
No butts about it. Smoking will not be allowed on Sea Isle City’s beaches.
A new state law that took effect Jan. 16 bans smoking at New Jersey’s beaches and parks, but it includes a provision that allows municipalities to set aside small areas where people can still light up.
Towns have the option of imposing a full ban or designating smoking areas on 15 percent of their beaches.
Sea Isle, however, favors an outright ban rather than allowing limited places to smoke, City Business Administrator George Savastano said.
“At this point, we’re not recommending we do anything other than to adhere to state law,” Savastano said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Councilwoman Mary Tighe asked Savastano whether that meant there would be no smoking permitted at all and he responded yes.
In an interview after the meeting, Tighe said she is unsure whether the city should enact a full smoking ban because it could be seen as being heavy-handed.
“I’m not one on banning things,” she said. “I don’t think we should impose ourselves on people.”
Admitting that she is somewhat “wishy-washy” on the issue, Tighe noted she could be “easily persuaded” to approve designated smoking areas if they wouldn’t infringe on nonsmokers. She believes Council should discuss the smoking ban in more depth
Tighe, a nonsmoker who is the assistant director of nursing for the Cape May County Health Department, stressed that she is the last person who wants anyone blowing smoke in her face when on the beach.
She suggested that the city should consider having designated smoking areas on the sides of the beaches, away from the main entryways. Trash cans could be placed in smoking areas so that smokers could dispose of their cigarette butts without littering the beaches, she said.
“I certainly don’t want people to be walking down and get hit with a wave or wall of smoke,” Tighe said of keeping smokers away from the entryways to beaches.
Councilman J.B. Feeley, a nonsmoker, made it clear in an interview in January that he wants absolutely no smoking on the beaches.
“I just don’t like the idea that smokers think the world is their ashtray. It’s not,” Feeley said.
Feeley believes that the smoking ban will be a positive development for Sea Isle’s summer tourism trade by dramatically reducing the number of cigarette butts littering the beaches.
He said the city would likely face too many logistical challenges if it tries to set up designated smoking areas instead of having a blanket ban.
“What do you do, draw a line in the sand and say, ‘No smoking here?’” he asked.
Feeley also noted that smoking has become far less accepted over the years amid the health dangers of tobacco use.
“I’m sure there are more people out there who dislike smoke being blown in their face,” he said.
Vaping is also prohibited on the beaches under the new state law. But the legislation doesn’t specify who will be responsible for enforcing the smoking ban. Senate President Steve Sweeney, who sponsored the legislation, has suggested that lifeguards or local police officers could handle enforcement.
In Sea Isle, police will enforce the smoking ban, but will not be aggressively out on the beach looking for violators, Savastano said.
“It’s not going to be heavy-handed It will be based on complaints,” he said. “We’ll start with a warning.”
The city will erect new signs and launch an advertising campaign to help educate the public about the ban, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said. He believes a public awareness campaign will be one of the keys to making the law a success.
