Smokers get warnings as creation of smoking areas looms overhead
Signs notifying beach- and boardwalk-goers of Bethany Beach’s two-month-old beachfront smoking ban have been one new feature of the 2008 summer season in the resort town. But strict enforcement of the first-in-the-state ban has yet to begin, as the May 12 nor’easter — walloping the shoreline just days before the ban was to take effect — set back the creation of the legislatively prescribed smoking areas on the beach itself.
That relaxed enforcement policy could change in the near future, as work to complete repairs to the beach continued this week, with an estimate completion date around July 15.
Contractors have been working for more than a week on completing repairs and upgrades to the beach crossovers, as well as the installation of snow fence and repair of storm-lost and -damaged dune fencing.
Town Manager Cliff Graviet said Tuesday, July 8, that the work had already been completed from Campbell Place to the south and that he expected work to the north of Campbell Place to be completed in the next week.
Once that work is complete, the town will finally be able to create the designated smoking areas at the front foot of the new dune, as called for in the legislation that was adopted by the town council in April and went into effect with some of the town’s other seasonal law shifts on May 15.
The April vote made the town the first in the state of Delaware to ban smoking on a public beach. Such bans already exist in many California beach towns, as well as on the Great Lakes and in New England. Neighboring South Bethany and Fenwick Island officials have also been discussing possible smoking bans for their beaches.
The Bethany Beach smoking ban prohibits, on a year-round basis, smoking in and around children’s playgrounds, town parks and on the boardwalk plaza area at the street end of Garfield Parkway. Except for those designated smoking areas, it also affects the rest of the town’s boardwalk and its beach and shoreline between May 15 and Sept. 15 — the traditional summer season in the resort town.
With the smoking areas yet to be created, the town has not yet issued a single citation for violation of the smoking ban — though there have been violations.
“We’re not enforcing it actively,” explained Graviet of the town’s stance on the ban in the nearly two months it has been in place. “We do patrol it and have advised people of the ban.”
Graviet said enforcement of the ban on smoking on the beach itself would have to wait until installation of the fencing and the smoking areas is complete.
“It is being enforced on the boardwalk and in the bandstand area,” he noted, emphasizing that only verbal warnings have been given to violators to this point.
“So far, people have complied when advised of the ban,” Graviet emphasized. “We have not issued any summonses or citations for violations.”
Graviet said he is hopeful that once the town begins fully enforcing the ban, there still won’t be any need for summonses or citations.
“As soon as we have the smoking areas on the beach, we’ll move to enforce it,” he allowed. “But we hope this isn’t an enforcement issue, that once people are advised of the ban, there will just be compliance.”
Code enforcement officials largely in charge
The ban is being enforced by town police and code enforcement officers — not lifeguards. The council was adamant they did not want the town’s beach patrol members to have to take their eyes off the water and swimmers to monitor or enforce the ban.
But Graviet said rumors that the town has hired additional police officers just to enforce the ban is incorrect.
“We looked at a number of different things in regard to code compliance,” he said, “such as dogs and bicycles on boardwalk. And, instead of hiring additional seasonal police officers, we added one or two employees here at town hall to deal with compliance issues at times when they are the most relevant, in the morning and during beach hours.”
The town bans dogs on the boardwalk and beach from May 15 to Sept. 30, though at least one canine companion was spotted on the beach during last Friday’s Fourth of July events.
Bicycles are also prohibited on the boardwalk between May 15 and Sept. 30, except between 6 and 9 a.m. They are prohibited year-round on the town’s sidewalks. Mayor Carol Olmstead this spring proposed a total, year-round ban for bicycles on the boardwalk, citing safety concerns with pedestrians, but the council did not implement the recommendation.
Skateboards, rollerskates and in-line skates are prohibited at all times on the boardwalk and bandstand, and on all sidewalks on Garfield Parkway from Route 1 to the boardwalk.
Graviet noted that the town’s seasonal police officers are actually being utilized more at times when the town is very crowded, such as in the evenings, with code enforcement officers being largely in charge of enforcing the smoking ban.
As adopted, the town’s smoking ban calls for violators to receive a written warning on their first offense. The second offense within four months would result in a summons to appear before the town alderman and a $100 fine.
The third and subsequent offenses inside four months would result in being taken into custody and appearing immediately before the alderman, with a $500 fine. A violation of the ban more than four months after a prior warning would be considered a new first offense.