The Board of Health looked at a smoking ban in 2003, but the Village Board did not support it in fear of becoming an "island" of smoke-free restaurants and bars. This time is different, trustees say, as the county has adopted a ban as well as many neighboring villages, including Buffalo Grove and Deerfield.
The Board of Health expects to hold two public hearings on a Wheeling smoking ban. The first has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 22 at Village Hall, 255 W. Dundee Road.
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Board to make smoking ban recommendation
The village's Board of Environmental Health may make a recommendation this summer on an antismoking ordinance to replace the village's two-decades-old restrictions.
The Board in August is expected to review a draft ordinance being developed by Corporation Counsel Terry Liston. The board will make any needed changes to that document before sending it to the Village Board for consideration.
A final decision on an ordinance will be up to trustees.
"In August they will be looking at coming up with an ordinance to present to the Board of Trustees," said Bonnie Burnett, the village's environmental health officer. "It's a little early to know what the ordinance will look like. I doubt that there's a consensus here yet."
The issue came up earlier this year when a resident asked the Village Board to update its ordinance, which he said is behind those in other suburbs such as Skokie and the City of Chicago which have banned smoking in public places.
At that time, though the Health Board already was looking at the issue.
This spring the Board of Health looked at ordinances from a large number of other communities, Burnett said, to see what kind of restrictions they have imposed. "We looked at everybody," she said.
Burnett said those measures vary widely, from extremely restrictive ordinances that prohibit all smoking in public places to those that allow smoking in some places such as bars or restaurants.
She noted that an ordinance adopted in June in Schaumburg prohibits smoking in most indoor public places, but allows smoking in restaurants and tobacco stores. At the other end some communities like Skokie prohibit smoking in most restaurants.
"They really run the gamut," Burnett said.
In June, Burnett said, the Health Board invited restaurant operators and other business owners to a meeting to discuss a smoking ban. However, she said, none of them came to that meeting.
"No one attended the meeting to discuss it," she said.
In January Mayor Rick Krier said he favored imposition of smoking restrictions on a county or state level, something echoed by village officials in other communities. Krier said that would be more effective in limiting smoking that doing it town by town, each with different restrictions.
But a county smoking ban, passed March 15 by a 13-3 margin, will not affect Morton Grove and other towns that have their own ordinances. The county measure prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and virtually all other indoor workplaces in unincorporated Cook County or communities without their own policy.
Morton Grove is one of about 15 Cook County municipalities not affected by the anti-smoking ban passed by the county board because it operates under home rule provisions, and because it has its own smoking ordinance. But there are about 100 municipalities that don't have smoking regulations.
Burnett said the village's smoking ordinance was adopted in 1985. While it is far less strict than more recent bans in other towns, it does require restaurants to have nonsmoking sections.
In addition, she said, in public facilities such as office a building, smoking is not permitted in common areas that might be used by the public.
Specifically, under the ordinance, a restaurant may permit smoking within a designated area only if requested by a customer. The restaurant may expand the size of the smoking area to meet immediate customer demand for smoking.
However, restaurants must maintain a nonsmoking section.
Smoking also is prohibited in restrooms, public buses, the public areas of grocery stores, convenience markets, drugstores, elevators, pharmacies, and in waiting or checkout line areas within other enclosed public places.
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Wheeling officials have been working with restaurateurs to find an appropriate smoking ban ordinance that can satisfy public health concerns and business needs.
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a smoking ban, which will take effect in March. When the county passed that ban, Wheeling officials and the Restaurant Row Hospitality Group began talking about what Wheeling should do.
"The restaurant people and I talked about it, and I basically said you guys better jump on the bandwagon," said Village President Greg Klatecki. "Working with the restaurants was really the key. We don't want to shove (a ban) down anyone's throats. Then everybody's happy with it."
Jim Klene, partner at Buca Di Beppo and chairman of the restaurant group, said he was happy the village sought output from the businesses.
"Obviously a ban impacts the restaurants and bars first and foremost," he said. "We saw this as a great opportunity to show a working relationship with the village, which they have shown in the past."
Although the Village Board has yet to discuss any ban in a formal meeting, Klene said trustees have received some recommendations from the Restaurant Row Hospitality Group. Klene said the recommendations are similar to the ban passed by the Chicago City Council, which gives a grace period for bars.
"We're not jumping off the cliff," Klene said. "We've asked for some room for establishments to adjust. There might be an option for stand-alone bars (to allow smoking), but not for a bar/restaurant combination."
Klatecki said the recommendations sound fair to him, but the issue will be discussed with the full board before anything is approved. That discussion is tentatively scheduled for June 19.
Trustee Dean Argiris said he wanted to see the village work on its own ban after the county passed one. According to the county's ban, municipalities can pass their own before it takes effect in March.
"I'd rather we make our decisions," he said. "I'd like to see something similar to the Chicago model, which has a timeline to give people a chance to move up to a full ban."
Many surrounding communities have approved bans of their own, including Buffalo Grove and Deerfield. Northbrook officials also are working on a smoking ban.
Klene said he believes nonsmoking establishments will be the norm soon, as he anticipates the state Legislature will tackle the issue after the November elections.
"As things move forward, I think it's what people really want," he said. "It doesn't do any good to be resistant to what people want."
ReadLocal smoking ban planned June 29, 2006
CASEY MOFFITT
BAN IS RESPONSE TO STRICTER BAN BY COOK COUNTY
The Wheeling Board of Health will soon have the task of developing a smoking ban ordinance for local public places including the village's numerous restaurants.
The Wheeling Village Board elected to jump on the smoke-free bandwagon in response to the Cook County Clean Indoor Air Act approved by the County Board in March, which will take effect next year.
"It's very restrictive. There are no exceptions," said Jim Ferolo, Wheeling village attorney, about the county ban. "I think we want to pass one that we can live with."
Ferolo explained any county ordinance cannot supersede a local one, giving Wheeling trustees a chance to develop a smoking ban for the village with some exceptions. The Village Board has until March to pass its own ban, or accept the county's.
Although the village could approve its own ban after the county's takes effect, Ferolo said it would be better to get one done beforehand.
"We don't want the business owners to gear up for the county and then again for us," he said.
The Wheeling Board of Health was working on a smoking ban for indoor public places in 2003. However, the Village Board said it would not support one at that time, with fears of becoming an "island" of smoke-free restaurants.
This time is different as the county ban is coming and many of Wheeling's neighbors have passed their own bans, including Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire and Deerfield.
"The time is now (for a smoking ban)," Trustee Ken Brady said. "Let's join the bandwagon and give the businesses time to gear up for it."
Many trustees indicated they liked the ban approved by Skokie, which gives exceptions to stand-alone bars, and bar areas in restaurants if those areas are blocked off with walls and have a separate ventilation system. The Skokie ban also exempts bowling alleys.
"I would prefer a flexible code," Trustee Patrick Horcher said. "I think there should be a way for people to be able to have a drink and a smoke indoors."
Restaurant owners in Wheeling also seem less resistant to the idea now than three years ago. Jim Klene, co-chairman of the Wheeling/Prospect Heights Area Chamber of Commerce's Restaurant Row Hospitality Group, said restaurateurs have been discussing the issue for the past year.
"In the future, I think nonsmoking is the way it's going to be," he said. "You look at places like California, and it tells you. It's not something we want to see, but it's reality.
"The health and safety of everybody is affected by this," he continued. "We would like to see something that allows time for the business owners to adjust and prepare."
Klene said local restaurateurs are more than willing to work with the Board of Health to devise a smoking ban for Wheeling.
Trustees were optimistic a smoking ban can be drafted that will make restaurant owners and patrons comfortable.
"I don't think it's going to be as scary as people think," Trustee Robert Heer said.
Read Wheeling leaders ponder smoking ban's local effect
March 23, 2006
CASEY MOFFITT AND JOHN HUSTON
Wheeling officials have mixed feelings about the new Cook County smoking ban.
Read County smoking ban miffs Northfield's chief executive
March 23, 2006
BY JOHN HUSTON AND IRV LEAVITT
STAFF WRITERS
Northfield Village President John Birkinbine had a message Friday for the Cook County Board, after commissioners passed a smoking ban that applies to his town.
"Personally, I think what the County Board is doing is none of their business," he said.
"If they want to deal with the unincorporated areas, that's fine. But to have it include the rest of us, it's not their business, and it will obviously impact Northfield. I don't like that."
The county ordinance, enacted March 15 by a 13-3 margin, will prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and virtually all other indoor workplaces in unincorporated Cook County or towns that lack their own policies, beginning next March.
The Northfield Village Board can evade the new code if it enacts its own smoking regulations, even if they're less restrictive, within the coming year.
"The wave of the future is smoke-free," said Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley, D-10th, chief sponsor of the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. "Whole states and countries are doing this. Pretty soon people are going to wonder what all the hoopla was about this. It's a public health issue."
About 15 Cook County suburbs have some type of smoking ordinance but more than 100 do not. Winnetka has one that bans lighting up in places deemed dangerous, including elevators, theaters, houses of worship and nursing homes.
Cook County Commissioner Gregg Goslin, R-14th, who cosponsored the law, said Winnetka's local law likely will exempt it from the County's more strict one.
But "We'll bring it to the attention of the (Winnetka) Caucus, and take the temperature of the community," Village Manager Doug Williams said, adding, "We haven't received any complaints (from businesses), and we're monitoring the situation."
Birkinbine said if the Northfield Village Board wants to make the village's air less smoky, fine. "If they want to give a place like Seul's (Tavern & Grill, 1735 Orchard Lane) a period of time in which to install smoke (exhaust systems), that's OK," he said. "But I'm not sure I'd even want to mandate that. I tend to be more libertarian."
The only exemptions to the county ban are for private clubs and nursing homes. "We exempted nursing homes because, especially with mentally ill people, nicotine is actually a good thing, a soothing thing," Goslin said. "Anyway, a nursing home is like a private home; it's where they live."
In public places, however, commissioners said the right to avoid second-hand smoke trumps smokers' concerns.
"I think your personal freedoms extend to what you want," Quigley said. "But when your actions affect those around you, it's out of your hand."
As for the potential effects on businesses, Quigley said there have been more than 90 studies in recent years that show no negative results from similar bans.
Joel Africk, president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association's Chicago office, praised Quigley and the County Board for passing the ban.
"This is definitely a victory," Africk said, adding that the county's ban is better than Chicago's, which was passed last year and will go into effect in 2008. Chicago's smoking ban will allow smoking indoors if air filtration devices are installed.
The county law "is easy to understand and it's obviously going to save lives starting a lot sooner than the Chicago ordinance," Africk said, adding that the American Lung Association plans to continue working to enact a state-wide smoking ban.
Cook County Commissioner Liz Doody Gorman, R-17th, whose district incorporates several northwest, west and southwestern suburbs, voted against the county band. She said, "I support a smoking ban ordinance of some sort," but the county ban should be similar to "what the city is doing," Gorman said. "We should keep the playing field level and not put our suburban businesses at a disadvantage."
Cook County Commissioner Anthony Peraica, R-16th, also voted against the ban. "I felt that the ordinance as presented was very ironic and hypocritical in light of the budget that was passed by the County Board for fiscal year 2006, which used these smokers in Cook County to balance the budget," Peraica said.
Last month, County Commissioners voted to fill a $70 million budget hole by increasing the tax on cigarettes by $1 per pack.
