Roswell OKs law limiting smoking in parks

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Roswell City Council approved an ordinance Monday that says smokers will only be able to light up in designated areas of city parks.

The law will go into effect after the city’s Recreation Commission identifies the spots where people can light up without bothering others.

In the past few months, the City Council and the seven-member Recreation Commission have wrestled with the smoking question for Roswell’s 18 parks.

An earlier version of the ordinance would have limited smoking to inside vehicles in parking lots with windows rolled up, but the City Council said that went too far. Another version said smokers could roll the windows down.

Jerry Orlans, the council liaison to the commission, said enforcement was the problem. For instance, would a motorcycle be classified as a vehicle? What if the parking lot was near a playground?

On Monday night, the seven-member Recreation Commission recommended a complete ban of smoking in parks, something only Clayton and Henry counties, and the city of Marietta have enacted in metro Atlanta.

The council decided it didn’t want to drive people – even smokers -- out of the parks, Orlans said.

“They didn’t want people to have to leave if they were there for a tournament for two to three hours,” he said.

Joe Glover, the city recreation director, said some parks are too small to have a smoking area.

“Probably there will be no smoking in town square, period,” Glover said. “You walk into the street and you’re in a designated area.”

The council might vote on a list of designated smoking areas as early as Dec. 3, he said.