Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 9/20/2016 - Memorandum From Delynn Coldiron Re: Council Follow Up On Secondhand Smoke - September 6, 2016 MeetingCouncil Follow-Up on Secondhand Smoke September 14, 2016 Page 2 3. California has addressed second hand smoke – what other codes exist to address this? • Staff worked with the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (LCDHE) on this issue. They were able to research policy options related to multi-unit housing and found a number of things with varying impact. These include: o Requirement that all new and existing multi-unit housing and condos be smoke free (highest impact) – California o Requirement that a certain percentage of new and existing multi-unit housing be smoke-free – California o Requirement that all new multi-unit housing be smoke-free – California o Low Income Tax Credit incentive (small) for smoke-free policies – California, Maine, New Hampshire, and some cities in Minnesota o Disclosure requirement where notification of smoke-free policies is given to prospective tenants – Oregon, California, New York, and Minnesota o Voluntary smoke-free policies (lowest impact) – Boston and California • The information they provided to us is attached. A legal review would be necessary to assess any of the policies we might be interested in pursuing for the City of Fort Collins. • At this point, there has not been any research done by City or County staff on second-hand smoke policies related to other types of residential properties such as single-family homes. 4. Residential Smoke-Free Policies in Fort Collins: • LCDHE worked with the Fort Collins Housing Authority, DMA Plaza, CARE Housing and Coachlight Plaza (all low income housing) several years ago and helped them establish smoke-free policies for their properties. • There is currently a proposal at HUD to require all HUD housing to be smoke-free which appears to be headed for approval. A decision is anticipated by December, 2016. • Any landlord can set a smoke-free policy for their units. According to LCDHE, more landlords and property owners are setting smoke-free policies because it preserves their property values in addition to meeting consumer needs and preserving health. • LCDHE and City staff worked together several years ago to add this information to the City’s landlord training manual. The manual is available online, but is given to participants who go through the City’s landlord training that continues to be offered twice a year. • Additional resources given to residents to help guide them through the process of initiating a smoke free building or to provide them with ideas about what can be done about second-hand smoke coming from neighborhood apartments can be found at: http://mysmokefreehousing.org/ and http://mysmokefreehousing.org/Resolving%20Smoking%20Problems.htm 5. Current case referred to during citizen participation: • Several site visits have been made to the property with no violations found so far. • Contact with the property owner, who is the smoker’s brother, has occurred. The owner informed us that his brother is disabled and that he would do what he could to help find a reasonable solution to this issue. • Contact has been made with the smoker as well. He has agreed to change the location where he and his roommate are smoking to reduce and/or eliminate impacts to the neighbor. He also indicated that he would continue to work through the City’s mediation program to assist with any other issues. • Contact was made with the neighbor and she confirmed that things have improved. Staff will continue to monitor this situation. Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional details on any of these items.