Surfside Beach officials plan 'changes' for smoking ordinance

By: Thema Ponton | SCNOW
Published: October 29, 2008

Surfside Beach town council is planning to revise parts of its smoking ordinance.

At a workshop Tuesday night, council met to talk about several ordinances, including littering, animals, trees, jury commission, and the smoking ban ordinance. And while no voting happened and no motions were made, town council members said they plan to make some changes.

Council wants to do away with the jury commission ordinance, an ordinance Mayor Deaton said is no longer needed.

Council also wants to make some changes to the littering ordinance, including changing the amount of the fine.

The animal ordinance was also a topic of discussion. Council talked about the possibility of requiring residents to register their pets and maybe even building a dog park.

When it came to trees, council had a lengthy discussion about the current tree ordinance. Some of the possible changes to the ordinance include issuing permits for tree cutting and requiring people to replant trees.

The discussion about the smoking ordinance was a big part of the workshop. Council had approved the first reading of a revised smoking ordinance in September after the state Supreme Court ruled smoking bans are not a criminal offense, but a civil offense. The second reading of the ordinance was put on hold while the town got an opinion from attorney general Henry McMaster about banning smoking on the beach. McMaster said the town could enforce the ordinance on the beach. The current ordinance would levy a fine of up to $25. Council also talked about making some changes to the current ordinance, which includes removing part of the ban that makes it illegal to smoke on a sidewalk.

Mayor Allen Deaton said the purpose of the workshop is to talk about the town's current ordinances in a more informal, but productive setting.

"It's been years since that's been done and it seems like we have conflicts and enforcement and things of that nature and we want to make sure everything is down correctly and that all the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted and we want to get it right." said Deaton. Council plans to have more workshops to review the town’s ordinances. Deaton said they plan to go through all the ordinances.

Council expects to vote on revised versions of the ordinances discussed at the workshop at the next council meeting in November.