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EUGENE CITY COUNCIL <br />AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY <br />Eugene <br />Work Session and Possible Action: An Ordinance Concerning The Prohibition of <br />Smoking Within The Downtown Core and Allowing Certain Properties Outside The <br />Downtown Core to Opt In; Amending Section 6.230 of The Eugene Code, 1971; and <br />Providing for a Sunset Date of November 1, 2017. <br />Meeting Date: March 8, 2017 <br />Department: Planning & Development <br />www.eugene-orgov <br />ISSUE STATEMENT <br />Agenda Item Number: B <br />Staff Contact: Denny Braud <br />Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5536 <br />This work session is an opportunity for the Eugene City Council to take action on a proposed <br />ordinance to expand smokefree areas in the downtown. The purpose of the ordinance is to <br />promote community health and create a more welcoming and accessible downtown core by <br />reducing the impacts of secondhand smoke and cigarette litter. <br />BACKGROUND <br />Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, Oregon, and Lane County. <br />Tobacco -related diseases kill approximately 7,000 Oregonians each year and nearly 700 people a <br />year in Lane County alone. An additional 600 deaths are caused by secondhand smoke each year <br />across the state. Medical expenses and lost wages due to tobacco -related disease and early death <br />cost Lane County over $258 million a year, or $1,784 per household. Surveys indicate that 75 <br />percent of Lane County residents believe it is important to be protected from secondhand smoke <br />outdoors. <br />Preventing and reducing the impact of tobacco in Lane County is one of the top five priorities of <br />the local Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). Evidence shows that increasing tobacco <br />and smokefree environments is one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use and prevent <br />secondhand smoke exposure. <br />Due to the enormous cost of tobacco use to society and individuals there is an increasing trend for <br />businesses and governments to adopt policies regulating smoking or tobacco use in outdoor <br />public spaces nationally and in Oregon. Salem, Oregon passed an ordinance that allows smoking to <br />be prohibited on sidewalks and landscape strips within public right-of-ways that are adjacent to <br />properties where smoking is prohibited as a policy of the property owner. Cities including <br />Boulder, Colorado, Fort Collins, Colorado, Syracuse, New York, Ithaca, New York, Burlington, <br />Vermont, Boise, Idaho, and San Rafael, California, have passed ordinances creating smokefree <br />outdoor areas in their city centers and downtowns. Locally, in 2016, all City of Eugene Parks and <br />