Politics & Government

Beaches Can Remain an Ashtray This Summer

Town Officials Delay Decision on Resident's Request to Establish Designated Smoking Areas at Town Beaches

Susan Hersh doesn't mince words when it comes to the condition of town beaches due to smokers.

"The beaches are loaded with cigarette butts. It's like an ashtray. You can walk on a butt that's just been put out and burn your foot," she said.

First Selectman Ken Flatto said he's heard hundreds of complaints about cigarette butts on town beaches and that hundreds of butts are in the sand around structures on the beaches, including swing sets. "There are so many careless people littering beaches with disgusting cigarette debris. I've had hundreds of people complain. It is an issue, and it's a widespread following," he said.

Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But Hersh's attempt to get the town's Parks and Recreation Commission to set up an area on or by town beaches where smokers could smoke and snuff out their butts in receptacles, instead of the sand, wasn't approved Wednesday night.

Instead, the commission decided to set up a committee, made up of commission members Barbara Rifkin, Brian Nerreau and Michael Hahn, to study the issue.

Find out what's happening in Fairfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Gerald Lombardo, director of the town's Parks and Recreation Department, said he'd call rec directors around the country to see how they deal with smoking on beaches.

Hersh said the commission doesn't allow smoking at youth events in town parks and that beaches are filled with children. "How is this different?" she asked the commission Wednesday night.

Hersh added that town regulations forbid littering on town beaches, but the commission didn't enforce that regulation when it came to smokers.

"I don't know how many people bring ashtrays to the beach, so your point is well taken," said Ellery Plotkin, the commission's chairman.

But Lombardo said enforcing the no-littering regulation when it came to cigarette butts was nearly impossible. "I've never known of anyone getting arrested for littering a cigarette butt. It comes down to pride of your surroundings," he said.

Hersh said she didn't know of any towns in Connecticut that forbid smoking on town beaches, but she said the town of Westerly, R.I. set up a designated area for smokers at its beaches and that a lifeguard, if he or she sees someone smoking on the beach, radios someone in the lifeguard shack to direct the smoker to the designated smoking area.

Hersh added that it wasn't a problem in Westerly anymore because of signage and announcements over a public address system.

Rifkin said she supported Hersh's idea, saying most smokers probably wouldn't mind smoking in a designated smoking area since they're forced to do that in other venues.

But Hahn wasn't taken with the idea. "It seems you want to segregate smokers into certain areas or camps...I'm not comfortable with that," he said.

Hersh replied, "What's the alternative? What's the message? Just everybody go ahead and smoke and dump your butts?"

Some commission members seemed to think Hersh was trying to establish smoking and non-smoking sections on town beaches. But Hersh said that wasn't the idea. She said smokers would just go to a designated area to smoke and then come back to the beach when they're done.

Nerreau said he agreed with Rifkin. "Smoking's been removed from parks - they have to go to the parking lot. They've been removed from theaters, restaurants, corporate office spaces," he said. He said smokers could sit anywhere on the beach, but they couldn't smoke anywhere on the beach, under Hersh's proposal.

Nerreau said the designated smoking area shouldn't be set up on the end of a beach because smokers on the other end would have to walk 250 yards to smoke.

Flatto said the commission should at least establish a no-smoking zone within 100 yards of structures on beaches, since that seemed to be where most cigarette butts are found.

The commission didn't set a date to revisit Hersh's proposal.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here