Smoking

Hello~
I have been on my property since the beginning. Before we had any Residents living with us (new lease-up) we implemented three of our eleven buildings to be smoke-free. The prospective and current Residents LOVE this idea.

Recently we had a Resident complain that someone was smoking in the pool area. She demanded we 'outlaw' smoking near the pool. I am a bit conflicted...

This is the first complaint of this nature in 2.5 years. We have always allowed smoking in the pool area. We have pots with sand in them for extinguishing and have never had an issue.

What is your advice? Curb smoking near the pool???

Maybe just allow smoking in one corner of the pool area. This would allow other residents to have the option to move to an area of the pool that is not down wind of the smoke.

Good thought, Lorie, but the concern I'd have is that wind is unpredictable.

Even before we went Smoke-Free, we had a policy of no smoking in the common areas or within 25 feet of any entry to the building. While we don't have a pool, this would apply to that area if we did. This was based off of the state law, so check yours and see what it says.

If a resident or guest wants to smoke, they should leave the common area and return when they are done. It's the courteous (and possibly legal) thing to do.

Local ordinances in our area forbid smoking in common areas of commercial businesses and other public places, like parks, so we apply this to the Leasing Office and Maintenance Shops. Because those are restricted, we also prohibit smoking at the pool as well. It seems like if your property already promotes non-smoking in certain buildings, it stands to reason there would be residents from those buildings who would object to smoking at the pool.