Wyckoff Reintroduces Smoke Free Ordinance

After tabling a proposal in June to create smoke free zones in Wyckoff parks, the township committee reintroduced a modified version of the ordinance at its Tuesday night meeting.

The original ordinance to ban smoking in public parks, introduced in May by Committeeman Brian Scanlan, was shelved for further consideration over concerns with ambiguities in the ordinance’s language, committee members said at the time.

Among the concerns cited with the ordinance were a lack of signage required to notify park-goers of the ban, as well as the possibility that the law’s language could be construed to allow ticketing of smokers lighting up in recreation area parking lots.

Susan Winton, a resident who spoke at the Tuesday night meeting, voiced concerns that a ban in itself represented a legal overreach by the committee.

“Are you in control of the air we breather?” she asked. “Is that your role?”

“We have gone so far that the rights of the people are being impinged upon,” said Winton, who also contended that other recent environmental efforts by the township have added undue restrictions on residents.

Jim Savage, another Wyckoff resident, disagreed, “commending” the committee for its reintroduction of the ordinance.

“To sit in the stands and have someone smoke next to you and get it in the children’s lungs is outrageous,” he said.

The amended ordinance would include the Larkin House property, previously not included on the list of smoke-free sites, as well as require signs to be clearly visible and allow smoking in recreation area parking lots.

The ordinance will have a public hearing and vote at the committee’s Aug. 6 meeting.