Middleton council may decide on smoking ban

License committee proposed a March 15, 2009, start date

Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  7/15/2008 5:47 am

MIDDLETON -- The Middleton Common Council will weigh Tuesday whether to become the latest Wisconsin community to ban indoor smoking in all public places.

On Monday night, the council's three-member License and Ordinance Committee voted 2-1 to recommend a ban go into place March 15, 2009.

Alds. Susan West and Steve Leo voted yes. Ald. Hans Hilbert dissented.

The measure now goes before the Common Council, which meets Tuesday night at 7:30 at City Hall, 7426 Hubbard Ave.

If the measure is approved by the council, Middleton would be the ninth Wisconsin community to blanketly ban indoor public and workplace smoking. Smoking in restaurants has been banned since 1996.

Last month Monona passed a public and workplace smoking ban that will go into effect June 1, 2009. Others across the state that have taken similar blanket action include Appleton, Eau Claire, Fitchburg, Madison, Marshfield, Shorewood Hills and Shorewood. Several dozen other Wiscosnin communities have less broad bans, with exceptions such as allowing smoking in taverns.

Addditionally, a proposal to ban public smoking in Dane County towns is now pending before the Dane County Board of Supervisors.

The March 2009 date proposed by the License and Ordinance Committee is a compromise. The committee struggled at a meeting last month to find commmon ground, with potential dates ranging from September 2008 to 2015.

Local business owners and the Middleton Chamber of Commerce argued that September was not enough time to make needed changes. Members of the citizens group Smoke Free Middleton, meanwhile, pushed for September.

The committee also recommended Monday night that smoking be prohibited within 15 feet of a building's main entrances, down from 20 feet in an earlier proposal. Smoking would be banned within 3 feet of secondary entrances.

Hilbert said he is generally opposed to a ban. It's not the city's job to regulate such activity at private places of business, he said.

West said health concerns prompted her support. She called smoking "a huge health issue, especially for employees" of businesses where smoking is allowed.

Leo argued that government does have a role in regulating smoking. He said Middleton's proposed ban is "consistent with an ongoing, 45-year trend to marginalize the use of tobacco products in the public realm."

Karyn Saemann
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  7/15/2008 5:47 am