Despite a last minute plea from the Manhattan Village Homeowners Association to be exempt from a ban on smoking in multi-unit residences, the city council decided not to exclude them and narrowly passed the law Tuesday night.
The council voted 3-2 on the second reading of the ordinance, with Mayor Pro Tem Tony D’Errico and Councilmember David Lesser dissenting.
The law is an extension of the citywide ban on smoking in public places and prohibits smoking both indoors and outdoors of multi-unit properties, excluding hotels. The new law includes e-cigarettes and doesn’t allow for any designated smoking areas.
Introduced at the Sept. 15 council meeting, the ordinance’s second reading was originally scheduled for Oct. 6 but was delayed at the request of the homeowners association.
Representatives from the association said Tuesday that their complex shouldn’t be included.
“While we have adjoined homes, our homes are separated by double walls, which are more substantial than the typical apartment building and include insulation,” wrote Ed Simon, the association’s onsite community manager, in an email to the council. “Our homes also have separate ventilation systems.”
However, apart from the single family homes, the majority of the residential complex consists of attached units of three or more, according to City Development Director Marisa Lundstedt, which fall under the law’s definition of “multi-unit residence.”
Councilmember Wayne Powell said it wouldn’t be fair to the residents of other multi-unit housing if Manhattan Village was excluded.
“I’ve received a number of emails saying, ‘Why are they going to be treated any different than the rest of the city?’” said Powell. “People get concerned when the same laws apply to different people differently.”
As at previous meetings on the subject, D’Errico and Lesser repeated their argument that the law wasn’t fair to the residents of any the city’s multi-unit housing, especially if the units don’t share a ventilation system. Lesser also restated his objection based on the lack of enforcement built into the legislation. Under the law, the city can make sure that landlords and homeowners associations put up the required signage and include the necessary language in their leases, but it can’t force them to regulate residents’ smoking.
Over the next year and a half, the city will work to educate property owners and tenants on the new rules. All multi-unit properties will have to be smoke-free by May 5, 2017. ER
