Ross Municipal Code Ch. 6.18 Smoking Regulations

Sections:

(Ord 735 (part), 2025)

This chapter shall be known as the Ross Smoke Ordinance. (Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

The following words and phrases, whenever used in this article, shall have the following meanings:

A. “Bar” means an area which is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by patrons on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of such beverages.

B. "Business" means any sole proprietorship, partnership, joint venture, corporation or other business entity formed for profit-making purposes.

C. “Child Care Facilities” means any family day care regulated by Section 1597.30 through 1597.621 of the California Health and Safety Code and any day care center for children regulated by Section 1596.90et seq. of the California Health & Safety Code. It does not include foster homes or residential care facilities.

D. “Common Area” means every Enclosed Area and Unenclosed Area of a Multi-Unit Residence that residents of more than one Unit of that Multi-Unit Residence are entitled to enter or use, including, for example, halls, paths, lobbies, courtyards, elevators, stairs, community rooms, playgrounds, gym, facilities, swimming pools, parking garages, parking lots, restrooms, laundry rooms, cooking areas, and eating areas.

E. “Common Interest Complex” means a Multi-Unit Residence that is a condominium project, a community apartment project, a stock cooperative, or a planned development as defined by California Civil Code section 4100.

F. “Dining Area” means any area, including streets and sidewalks, which is available to or customarily used by the general public, and which is designed, established, or regularly used for consuming food or drink.

G. “Electronic Smoking Device” means an electronic and/or battery-operated device that can be used to deliver an inhaled dose of nicotine, or other substances, including a component, part, or accessory of such a device, whether or not sold separately. “Electronic Smoking Device” includes any such device, whether manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold as an electronic cigarette, an electronic cigar, an electronic cigarillo, an electronic pipe, an electronic hookah, or any other product name or descriptor.

H. "Employee" means any person who is employed by any employer in consideration for direct or indirect monetary wages.

I. "Employer" means any person, partnership, corporation, including a municipal corporation, which employs the services of one or more individual persons.

J. “Enclosed Area” means an area in which outside air cannot circulate freely to all parts of the area, and includes an area that has (1) any type of overhead cover whether or not that cover includes vents or other openings and at least three walls or other vertical constraint to airflow including, but not limited to, vegetation of any height, whether or not those boundaries include vents or other openings; or (2) four walls or other vertical constraints to airflow including, but not limited to, vegetation that exceed six feet in height, whether or not those constraints include vents or other openings.

K. "Landlord" means any Person who owns property let for residential use, any Person who lets residential property, and any Person who manages such property, except that "Landlord" does not include a master tenant who sublets a Unit as long as the master tenant sublets only a single Unit of a Multi-Unit Residence.

• L. "Minor" shall mean any individual who is less than twenty-one (21) years old.

M. “Multi-Unit Residence” means property containing two (2) or more Units, including but not limited to a Common Interest Complex, except the following specifically excluded types of housing:

(1) a single-family residence; and

(2) detached or attached in-law or accessory dwelling Unit to single family residence.

N. "Nonprofit entity" means any corporation, unincorporated association or other entity created for charitable, religious, philanthropic, educational, character-building, political, social or other similar purposes, the net proceeds from the operations of which are committed to the promotion of the objectives or purposes of the entity and not to private gain. A public agency is not a "nonprofit entity" within the meaning of this section.

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O. “Openings” shall include main entrances, exits, operable windows and ventilation intake systems.

P. "Person" means any individual, partnership, cooperative association, private corporation, personal representative, receiver, trustee, assignee or any other legal entity.

Q. "Place of employment" means any area under the legal or actual control of an employer or sole proprietor which employees normally frequent during the course of employment.

R. "Public place" means any area or building open to any area, publicly or privately owned, which is open to the general public, including for example: restaurants, bars, retail stores, banks, theatres, healthcare facilities, parks, playgrounds, government facilities, bus shelters, public transportation facilities, bed and breakfast facilities, and farmers’ markets. Public Place does not mean within private vehicles in or on public place.

S. “Reasonable Distance” means a distance of 20 feet in any direction from an area in which Smoking is prohibited.

T. “Recreation area” means any area open to the general public for recreational purposes, including, for example, sports facilities, parks, public gardens, children's play areas and playgrounds.

U. "Service area" means any publicly or privately owned area, including streets and sidewalks, that is designed to be used or is regularly used by one or more Persons to receive a service, wait to receive a service, or to make a transaction, whether or not such service or transaction includes the exchange of money. The term “Service Area” includes but is not limited to areas including or adjacent to information kiosks, automatic teller machines (ATMs), bank teller windows, telephones, ticket lines, bus stops and cab stands.

V. “Smoke” means the gases, particles, or vapors released into the air as a result of combustion, electrical ignition, or vaporization, when the apparent or usual purpose of the combustion, electrical ignition, or vaporization is human inhalation of the byproducts, except when the combusting or vaporizing material contains no tobacco, marijuana, cocaine or nicotine and the purpose of inhalation is solely olfactory, such as, for example, smoke from incense. The term “Smoke” includes, but is not limited to, tobacco smoke, Electronic Smoking Device vapors, marijuana smoke, and crack cocaine smoke.

W. "Smoking" means the inhaling and/or exhaling of Smoke and/or the inhaling, exhaling, burning, or carrying any lighted, heater, or ignited cigar, cigarette, cigarillo, pipe, hookah, Electronic Smoking Device, or any plant product intended for human inhalation.

X. “Tobacco Product” means:

(1) any product containing, made, or derived from tobacco or nicotine that is intended for human consumption, whether Smoked, heated, chewed, absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, sniffed, or ingested by any other means, including, but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, little cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, snuff; and

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(2) Any Electronic Smoking Device.

(3) Notwithstanding any provision of subsections (1) and (2) to the contrary, “Tobacco Product” includes any component, part, or accessory of a Tobacco Product, whether or not sold separately. “Tobacco Product” does not include any product that has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for sale as a tobacco cessation product or for other therapeutic purposes where such product is marketed and sold solely for such an approved purpose.

Y. “Unenclosed Area” means any area that is not an Enclosed Area.

Z. “Unit” means a personal dwelling space, even where lacking cooking facilities or private plumbing facilities, and includes any associated exclusive-use Enclosed Area or Unenclosed Area, such as, for example, a private balcony, porch, deck, or patio. “Unit” includes but is not limited to an apartment; a condominium; a townhouse; a room in a long-term health care facility, assisted living facility, or hospital; a hotel or motel room; a room in a single room occupancy (“SRO”) facility; a room in a homeless shelter; a single-family home; and an in-law or accessory dwelling unit. (Ord. 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018).

A. Smoking and the use of Tobacco Products are prohibited in all enclosed public places within the Town of Ross, including, but not limited to:

1. Places of employment, including retail stores, banks, restaurants, bars and offices;

2. Town-owned facilities, including residential facilities;

3. Recreation and exercise facilities, including theatres, auditoriums, galleries, museums, libraries, gyms and sports facilities;

4. Service areas, including ATM and ticket lobbies;

5. Lobbies, hallways, elevators, dining areas, laundry rooms, public restrooms and other common areas in Multi-Unit Residences, Residential care facilities; and

6. A minimum of fifty percent of guest rooms in every hotel and bed-and-breakfast facility must be permanently designated as completely nonsmoking.

B. Smoking and the use of Tobacco Products are prohibited by this Chapter in all other enclosed public places except as provided below:

1. Inside private vehicles.

2. Inside private, single family residences except residences used as Child Care Facilities or Residential care facilities as defined in Section 18.12.275 of the Ross Municipal Code.

3. Inside a guest house or Accessory Dwelling Units attached to or detached from single family residences.

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4. By performers during theatrical performances, if smoking is an integral part of the story in the theatrical production.

C. Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prevent any owner, operator, manager or other person who controls any establishment or facility from declaring and enforcing a nonsmoking policy. (Ord 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

A. Except as otherwise expressly authorized by state or federal law, smoking and the use of Tobacco products are prohibited in the following unenclosed public places:

1. Town-owned recreation areas, including parks and playing fields.

2. Town-owned sites of public events, including but not limited to sports events, entertainment, ceremonies and parades.

3. Service areas, including bus stops, ticket lines and ATMs.

4. Outdoor dining areas of restaurants.

5. Bars.

6. Courtyards and other areas where air circulation may be impeded by architectural, landscaping or other barriers.

7. Within 20 feet of any entrance, opening or exit of any enclosed area within which smoking is prohibited, except while passing on the way to another destination.

8. Active construction sites where a Town building permit has been issued.

B. The use of Tobacco Products are prohibited in Common Areas of Multi-Unit Residences, except that a Person with legal control over a Common Area may designate a portion of the Unenclosed Area of the Common Area as a designated smoking area if the area meets all of the following criteria:

1. The area must be located a Reasonable Distance from any Unit or Enclosed Area where Smoking is prohibited by this section or other law. The area must be established by binding agreement relating to the ownership, occupancy, or use of real property or by designation of a Person with legal control over the property. In the case of a nonsmoking area created by agreement or designation, this provision does not apply unless the Person designating the Smoking area has actual knowledge of, or has been given notice of, the agreement or designation. A Person with legal control over a designated smoking area may be obliged to modify, relocate, or eliminate that the area as laws change, as binding agreements are created, and as nonsmoking areas on neighboring property are established;

2. The area must not include, and must be a Reasonable Distance from, Unenclosed Areas primarily used by children and Unenclosed Areas with improvements that facilitate

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physical activity including, but not limited to playgrounds, tennis courts, swimming pools, school campuses, and sandboxes;

3. The area must be no more than ten percent (10%) of the total Unenclosed Area of the Multi-Unit Residence for which it is designated;

4. The area must have a clearly marked perimeter;

5. The area must be identified by conspicuous signs;

6. The area must be completely within an Unenclosed Area; and

7. The area must not overlap with any Enclosed or Unenclosed Area in which Smoking is otherwise prohibited by this section or other provisions of this Code state law, or federal law.

J. Nothing in this section prohibits any Person, Landlord, Employer, or Nonprofit Entity with legal control over any property from prohibiting Smoking and Tobacco Product use on any part of such property, even if Smoking or the use of Tobacco Products is not otherwise prohibited in that area.

K. No person shall dispose of smoking waste within the boundaries of an area in which smoking is prohibited. (Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

A. All Units within those Multi-Unit Residences in existence prior to the effective date of this Section shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter upon the earliest of the following occurrences:

1. When the lease, in effect as of the effective date of this Section, expires or is renewed.

2. In the case of a month-to-month lease, on the first day of the next rental period following the effective date of this Section.

3. When a new lease is entered into with a new or existing tenant.

B. Each and every Unit of a Multi-Unit residence that becomes available for the first time on or after the effective date of this Section shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter. (Ord. 685 (part), 2018).

A. Every lease or other rental agreement for the occupancy of a Unit in a Multi-Unit residence that takes effect after the effective date of this Section shall include the provisions set forth in subsection (B) below on the earliest possible date when such an amendment is allowable by law after providing the minimum legal notice.

B. Every lease or other rental agreement governed by subsection (A) above shall be amended or prepared to include the following provisions:

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1. A clause providing that as of the agreement’s commencement date, it is a material breach of the agreement to allow or engage in smoking in the unit. Such a clause might state, “It is a material breach of this agreement for tenant or any other person subject to the control of the tenant or present by invitation or permission of the tenant to engage in smoking in the unit.”

2. A clause providing that it is a material breach of the agreement for the tenant or any other person subject to the control of the tenant or present by invitation or permission of the tenant to engage in smoking in any common area of the property other than in a designated smoking area. Such a clause might state, “It is a material breach of this agreement for tenant or any other person subject to the control of the tenant or present by invitation or permission of the tenant to engage in smoking in any common area of the property, except in an outdoor designated smoking area, if one exists.”

3. A clause providing that it is a material breach of the agreement for tenant or any other person subject to the control of the tenant or present by invitation or permission of the tenant to violate any law regulating smoking while anywhere on the property. Such a clause might state, “It is a material breach of this agreement for the tenant or any other person subject to the control of the tenant or present by invitation or permission of the tenant to violate any law regulating smoking while anywhere on the property.”

4. A clause expressly conveying third-party beneficiary status to all occupants of the Multi-Unit residence as to the smoking provisions of the agreement. Such a clause might state, “Other occupants of the property are express third-party beneficiaries of those provisions in this agreement that concern smoking. As such, other occupants of the property may seek to enforce such provisions by any lawful means, including by bringing a civil action in a court of law.”

C. Whether or not a Landlord complies with subsections (A) and (B) above, the clauses required by those subsections shall be implied and incorporated by law into every agreement to which subsections (A) and (B) apply, and shall become effective as of the earliest possible date on which the Landlord could have made the amendments or included the clauses in the agreements pursuant to subsections (A) and (B).

D. This section shall not create additional liability in a Landlord to any person for a tenant’s breach of any smoking provision in a lease or other rental agreement for the occupancy of a unit in a Multi-Unit residence if the Landlord has fully complied with this Section and Section 6.18.040.

E. Failure to enforce any smoking provision required by this Section shall not affect the right to enforce such provision in the future, nor shall a waiver of any breach constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or a waiver of the provision itself. (Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

A. No Person, Landlord, Employer, or Nonprofit entity shall knowingly or intentionally permit Smoking in an area which is under the legal or actual control of that Person, Landlord, Employ er , or Nonprofit entity.

B. No Person, Landlord, Employer, or Nonprofit entity shall knowingly or intentionally

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permit the presence or placement of ash receptacles, including but not limited to ashtrays or ash cans, within an area that is under the legal or actual control of the Person, Landlord, Employer, or Nonprofit entity and where smoking is prohibited and in which smoking is prohibited.

C. No Person shall dispose of used smoking or Tobacco Product waste within the boundaries of an area in which Smoking or Tobacco Product use is prohibited, including within any Reasonable Distance required by this section.

D. A Person, Landlord, Employer, or Nonprofit Entity that has legal control of an area in which smoking and the use of Tobacco Products are prohibited by this Section shall post a clear, conspicuous and unambiguous “No Smoking” and “No Use of Tobacco Products” or “Smokefree” and “Tobacco-Free” sign at each point of ingress to the area, and in at least one other conspicuous point within the area. The signs shall have letters of no less than one inch in height and shall include the international “No Smoking” symbol (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it). Signs posted on the exterior of buildings to comply with this section shall include the Reasonable Distance requirement set forth in Section 6.18.020.Q of this Chapter. At least one sign with the Town phone number to which complaints can be directed must be placed conspicuously in each place in which Smoking is prohibited. For purposes of this Section, the Public Works Director or their designee shall be responsible for the posting of signs in regulated facilities owned or leased in whole or in part by the Town.

E. Each instance of Smoking or Tobacco Product use in violation of this section shall constitute a separate violation. For violations other than for Smoking, each day of a continuing violation of this section shall constitute a separate violation. (Ord. 728 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

No person, business, or owner, manager, or operator of any establishment subject to this Chapter shall sell, offer to sell, or permit to be sold any Tobacco Project within the Town of Ross. (Ord 735 (part), 2025)

A. Notice of this chapter shall be provided to all applicants for a business license or renewal thereof that have a business establishment in Ross frequented by the public. However, lack of such notice shall be no defense to a violation of this chapter.

B. Enforcement of this chapter shall be the responsibility of the Chief of Police or their designee.

C. Any citizen may make a complaint under this chapter to the Chief of Police or their designee.

D. The Town may seek compliance with this Chapter by any remedy allowed under this Code, including, but not limited to, revocation, suspension, civil fines and any other remedy allowed by law. Such remedies may be sought independent of one another or may be sought in addition to one another. (Ord 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 728 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

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No person or employer shall discharge or in any manner retaliate against any employee because such employee exercises any right to a smoke free environment afforded by this Chapter. (Ord 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

This Chapter shall not be interpreted or construed to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted by other applicable laws. (Ord 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this Chapter, or its application to any person or circumstance, is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases of this Chapter, or its application to any other person or circumstance. The Ross Town Council hereby declares that it would have adopted each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases hereof is declared invalid or unenforceable. (Ord 735 (part), 2025; Ord. 685 (part), 2018; Ord. 602 (part), 2007; Ord. 475 §1(part), 1989).

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