[溫哥華本地新聞] Smoking banned in 42-storey Vancouver condo tower first, building, members

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Smoking banned in 42-storey Vancouver condo tower

Offenders face penalty, after first offence, of up to $200 for smoking in any of the building’s 237 units


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Smoking+banned+storey+Vancouver+condo+tower/7304934/story.html#ixzz27gQfsC39
Dozens of strata members at Vancouver’s tallest all-residential tower hooted and hollered after a motion passed Tuesday outlawing smoking in any of the building’s 237 units.
Roughly 70 strata members of the 42-storey Melville building in the city’s tony Coal Harbour neighbourhood voted to fine residents caught smoking, while about nine opposed the bylaw.
“When it passed the room came alive,” said Dwight Wamboldt, a 65-year-old who has lived in the building with his wife, Tanya, since its construction in 2007. “We’ve been fighting this for years and finally last night we got it passed with a majority three-quarters vote.
“This kind of thing throughout the city is just long overdue, in particular when it affects other people’s health.”
The Wamboldts said they had registered dozens of complaints to building management over the years due to the intrusive cigarette and marijuana smoke that filters into their unit.
Strata president Renu Bakshi said she has noticed an upswing in complaints over the past year. Once the bylaw is approved by the city — which should happen this week, Bakshi said — any resident caught smoking in the building will be given a warning. Each subsequent time they are caught they can be fined $200, which will go toward the strata’s funds, Bakshi said.
“Most of the population does not smoke. Every citizen has a right to clean air, especially in their home,” Bakshi said. “The two biggest complaints in condo living are cigarette smoke and noise, both of which penetrate numerous units.
“We have a right to fresh air and we have a right to live in peace in our homes.”

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Dwight and Tanya Wamboldt get cigarette smoke wafting into their Vancouver condo bedroom window and patio door.



The B.C. Tobacco Control Act designates spaces such as apartment lobbies, corridors and laundry areas as public spaces where smoking is prohibited. The act requires smokers to stay at least three metres away from open windows, air intakes and the public entranceways of apartment buildings, and puts the enforcement onus on landlords or hea
lth authorities.

The act does not apply to private balconies in apartments or condominiums, but landlords or strata councils can enact rules to ban smoking in those areas.

In some cases — the City of Vancouver being one example — municipal bylaws concerning second-hand smoke are stricter than the provincial legislation and the city’s bylaw enforcement department may become involved.

The situation is even more complicated in condominium complexes. Strata buildings are subject to the Tobacco Control Act and any applicable municipal regulations, but strata councils also have the authority to create and enforce their own anti-smoking bylaws that could, for example, ban smoking on balconies and rooftops.

The Melville’s property manager Ken Armstrong said he receives as many as 20 complaints a month from residents upset about second-hand smoke; of those, about five or six usually relate to marijuana smoke.

“I think in the long run you’re going to see non-smoking buildings and smoking buildings because there’s so much conflict between the smokers and non-smokers,” Armstrong said.

A directory on the Smoke Free Housing B.C. website, run by the B.C. Healthy Living Alliance, listed 62 smoke-free buildings in B.C. on Wednesday, 23 of which were in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley or Whistler.

Asked to choose between buying identical condos, one in a building with a smoking bylaw and the other without, Wamboldt was clear.

“You know which one I’d buy? Pretty obvious, isn’t it?”

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