Carlsbad bans smoking in all apartments, condos
CARLSBAD, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — Starting next year, all smokers, vapers or marijuana users living in rental housing units in the city of Carlsbad will need to look outside their home to light up.
The new city law, which was passed earlier this week and is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, bars any smoking activity in and around Carlsbad apartments, condos, care facilities and other multiunit homes. Certain designated outdoor spaces will remain available for smokers to use.
Carlsbad is the first municipality in the county to bar smoking from private housing units citywide, expanding it from rules for renters that have been historically implemented at the discretion of individual landlords or property owners.
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According to the city, local elected officials pursued the ordinance to bring Carlsbad into compliance with its Housing Element, a state-mandated blueprint for cities to lay out their housing plans.
The main purpose of the Housing Element is for cities to outline how they plan to introduce additional housing units to meet future needs.
However, Carlsbad included a smoke-free ordinance in its 2021 plan — the most recent one passed — in a literal attempt to promote “a suitable living environment,” as state lawmakers wrote in the law adopting housing elements.
According to the Housing Element, Carlsbad sought the ban to reduce secondhand and thirdhand smoke death and disability in the city by zeroing in on these activities in multi-family housing. The element proposed including all exclusive-use areas both interior and exterior, including inside apartments or on a unit’s balcony.
The law passed by city lawmakers on Tuesday encompassed all of those spaces in rental units or condos. Single-family homes, ADUs, mobile homes and hotels were excluded from the law.
Although enforcement of the law will be left up to private parties, meaning landlords and other tenants will be enabled to take legal action against violators in the form of civil lawsuits — local police will not be issuing citations or fines as with other smoke-free laws.
Ensuring compliance was a big question when city officials first began exploring the smoking ban given the Carlsbad Police Department and Code Enforcement Division’s limited resources available to absorb enforcement responsibility for another measure.
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While Carlsbad is the first city in the county to target smoking inside homes, it is not the sole city in the region seeking to crack down on the activity.
Last year, Encinitas expanded an outdoor smoking ban to encompass nearly every public space aside from private residential properties or inside vehicles. Dozens of signs were posted throughout the city earlier this year to notify visitors and residents of the ban.
Carlsbad has similarly had a smoke-free air law on the books for over two decades, applying to most outdoor spaces in the city like parks trails, beaches, and areas within 20 feet of outdoor patios for restaurants.
Christelle Koumoue contributed to this report
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