Posted on Tue, Aug. 08, 2006

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Hilton Head official explores smoking ban

Town councilman wants prohibition for indoor eateries, workplaces

By TIM DONNELLY

tdonnelly@islandpacket.com

A proposed ban on smoking in all indoor restaurants and workplaces on Hilton Head Island appears to be gaining momentum as the ban’s main proponent works on selling his case to restaurateurs and business owners.

Town Councilman John Safay met with representatives of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce last week and held a forum Monday with members of the Hilton Head Area Hospitality Association on the issue.

If the response from the Hospitality Association is any measure, the proposed ban is being welcomed with open lungs by many business owners.

“I think it’s forward-thinking, and I agree ... that it’s in line with the image we create for Hilton Head Island,” John Curry, a hospitality industry consultant who has worked for companies from Walt Disney World to Sea Pines, told Safay on Monday.

Though the Town Council has yet to formally discuss the issue, Safay said he might bring it before the body as soon as next month. If the council agrees to the ban, it would give businesses a period to adjust before the next busy tourism season, Safay said.

Safay is selling his idea as both a way to enhance the image of Hilton Head as an environmentally friendly, healthy place to visit and as a public health issue — something that was backed by a recent surgeon general’s report saying secondhand smoke is more harmful than previously thought.

Some businesses on the island have already embraced a smoking ban.

Marriott announced last month that all its hotels in the United States and Canada will be going smoke-free next month, and The Westin Resort banned smoking earlier this year. The Westin’s example bolsters Safay’s argument that customers won’t avoid a business if it goes smoke-free.

“For us, it has not made one single bit of difference,” Westin general manager Jim McGlashan said Monday. “It has no impact on business.”

Michael Anthony’s Cucina Italiana also banned smoking recently in light of the new surgeon general report, a representative from the restaurant said Monday, and business has not suffered.

In May, Sullivan’s Island became the first town in South Carolina to ban smoking in workplaces.

But there is a question as to whether a municipality can enact an ordinance banning smoking at private businesses. A provision in state law states, “Any laws, ordinances, or rules enacted pertaining to tobacco products may not supersede state law or regulation.”

Opponents say that stops municipalities from banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

Howard Duvall, executive director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, has said a lawsuit is expected to be filed against the Sullivan’s Island ordinance, which was enacted in May.

Duvall said the rationale for supporting the Sullivan’s Island ordinance is that state law lists specific places where the ban is in place. A local ordinance that does not affect those same places would be legal.

Lawmakers in the House took up a bill this year that would ban smoking in restaurants, bars and lounges, but in April the House voted to send it back to the House Judiciary Committee. The bill would have to start over in the legislative process in the next session. A similar bill in the Senate stalled in 2005.

The chamber of commerce has been contacting other chambers around the country to see how they have dealt with smoking bans, said Chris Long, vice president of public policy, and will likely poll its members to see how they feel about the proposal.

Supporters will still have to win over some skeptical smokers who see the issue as an infringement on civil liberties.

But, with bans quickly spreading across the country from California and New York City to smaller towns and even some places in the usually tobacco-friendly South, some business owners said they see the issue as an inevitability.

It wasn’t all that long ago, ban supporters say, when people could smoke in airplanes or light up in a public theater.

“If Hilton Head decides to do this, it’s going to be a big deal,” Safay said.

Donnelly is a reporter for The (Hilton Head) Island Packet, a McClatchy newspaper.