A Timmins City Council debate over a noxious habit has finally been squished.
Last June, a proposed amendment to the city's smoking distance bylaw was first discussed at council. The idea, which was primarily focused on the Downtown core but would have taken affect city-wide, was to increase the distance required by persons smoking to be from an entrance from three metres to nine metres, which equates to 29.5 feet. It was met with very mixed reactions from the public and Downtown businesses.
Councillor Noella Rinaldo, also the Executive Director of the Downtown Timmins Business Improvement Association, expressed that the BIA was in support of the bigger distance. A survey conducted by the Timmins Chamber of Commerce stated that up to 65 per cent of people in their membership also supported the amendment.
But in July of 2016, a pet shop proprietor, building owner, and BIA Board member Walter Palubiskie spoke at council and stated that at no point was he or any other business owner consulted on the issue. He added that the increased distance made little sense for most downtown enterprises.
In early November, a heated exchange occurred between Councillors Mike Doody and Rick Dubeau regarding alleged comments from Downtown business owners on the smoking issue. At that same meeting Councillor Pat Bamford seemed tired of discussing the issue, and pointed to the fact that even the current bylaw isn't enforced, so altering it was essentially a pointless endeavour.
At Monday's meeting, Councillor Rick Dubeau asked City Clerk Steph Palmateer to elaborate on the latest.
"Basically this goes back to the item that was brought forward initially in the past term of council, for an item that was brought up by the BIA (Business Improvement Association). At that time council had directed me to get some further information. As stated at that time, we knew we would be setting precedent with trying to enforce a 9-metre provision in the Downtown corridor. That has actually been confirmed, and in an opinion received by the city, basically most communities do not enforce the 9-metre provision on sidewalks. They've taken the opinion that a sidewalk is a part of a highway, so that exemption under the Act would apply to a sidewalk area," he said.
"So basically, we would not be able to enforce 'no-smoking' on a sidewalk," said Palmateer.
This sign sits outside of the Archie Dillon Sportsplex indicating smokers must be 9 metres away from the entrance. The minimum distance required city-wide will remain 3 metres. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday Dubeau thanked Palmateer for his efforts over the past several months and beyond in digging deeper into the matter.
"That's the same information that I got, that a sidewalk is a roadway. To make the Downtown smoke-free just wasn't feasible. We all know that smoking, and second hand smoke is harmful. Nobody disagrees with that," he said, and added that many of the business owners in the BIA area weren't particularly in favour of the new bylaw update.
"The intent of the BIA was very good, there's no doubt about that, but I think in the long run it just wasn't the right decision for our community, and especially for the downtown. We all know it struggles. I guess that's the end of this," said Dubeau.
After the meeting, he told TimminsToday that he was pleased to have the issue finally cleared from the many tasks that council has to work on.
"The fact is we can't enforce it, it goes against the Municipal Act, which is what I said a long time ago. So I asked to bring this back so that the business owners Downtown, the majority of whom I've talked to, don't want this even though the majority of them are non-smokers. Most of them have told me it would kill their businesses, and this is something that was missed," said Dubeau.
