Want to take a stroll in the park? Relax on a park bench? And take a puff of your vape or cigarette?
Whoa! Not so fast!
You won’t be able to do that, especially now that the City of Winter Haven has officially banned all forms of smoking, including vaping, (with the exception of unfiltered cigars) from public parks and benches within the city limits.
At their meeting on Mon. Mar. 24, Winter Haven city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the second reading of an ordinance banning all forms of smoking, which includes, vaping in city parks and on public benches.
The only exception made was for unfiltered cigars. Otherwise, most other forms of smoking and vaping have been prohibited.As Katrina D. Hill, Director of Public Affairs and Communications, explained: “This exception [for unfiltered cigars] is in place due to state statute that, as a City, we cannot overrule.”
The ordinance was created in compliance with Section 386.209 of the Florida Statutes, which “authorizes municipalities to adopt and enforce restrictions as to smoking within the boundaries of any public parks and/or public beaches that the municipality owns and/or leases.”
A similar ordinance had been adopted by The Board of County Commissioners for Polk County on Nov. 7, 2023, which prohibited vaping and smoking within public parks owned or leased by the county.
The City of Winter Haven adopted its own ordinance in an effort “to affirm and promote a healthy environment” within the city limits, wrote Charlie Bird, Assistant City Manager of Public Safety, wrote in the city agenda memo.
No private businesses are expected to be impacted by this new ordinance, as there is no “no direct economic impact on private, for-profit business”, nor any new charges, fees, or compliance costs to be incurred upon local businesses, Bird wrote.
“However, there may potentially be indirect impacts on the sale of tobacco products within the City but such potential impacts are so de-minimus and/or negligible that same are not ascertainable,” he wrote.
