Carpinteria has a new smoking ordinance going into effect Tuesday that will prohibit smoking in apartments and condos, including inside individual units and common areas. 

The Carpinteria City Council approved the ordinance on June 24, 2024, with the goal to improve air quality and reduce the impacts of secondhand smoke. The ordinance applies to cigarettes, marijuana and vapes.

Apartments will be allowed to have designated smoking areas, if the area is located a “reasonable distance” from any doorway into an enclosed area or any access way to a public place, according to the ordinance.

Megan Musolf, assistant planner for the City of Carpinteria, said the city first considered prohibiting smoking in 2021 when Future Leaders of America, a local youth advocacy group, asked the city to consider an ordinance to improve air quality for residents in multi-unit housing. 

“Carpinteria has a lot of multi-unit housing, so this could have the potential to positively impact the health and air quality of a lot of city residents,” Musolf said.

The ordinance won’t be strictly enforced, she said. The ordinance doesn’t create any fines, but it is up to property managers and homeowners associations to take “reasonable steps” to enforce the ordinance. The city plans to take an educational approach to the ordinance. 

“If we receive a complaint from somebody who says, ‘My neighbor is smoking in their unit,’ the city can go out and provide educational materials to inform people of what the regulations are, but we won’t be fining them,” Musolf said.

The ordinance does create a private right of action, meaning if a resident feels that they are being harmed by a neighbor violating the ordinance, they can take that to court as a private matter. 

Accessory dwelling units are exempt from the ordinance unless the ADU is licensed as a daycare facility or an assisted-living home, Musolf said.

Some multi-unit communities in Carpinteria already prohibit smoking inside units, including the Shepard Place Apartments at 1069 Casitas Pass Road.

Martha Bourbon, 80, lives in the Shepard Place Apartments and said she still has to deal with the smell of cigarettes and marijuana because her apartment is near the community’s designated smoking area. 

“I think it’s the one thing that people shouldn’t do,” Bourbon said. “I had friends that were smoking, relatives, and they got cancer. It’s horrible when you have to see that in your family.”

She said she was glad the city was taking action to prohibit smoking in apartments, but she wasn’t confident that the ordinance would actually stop people from smoking inside. 

“I just think that Carpinteria should be a non-smoking place,” Bourbon said. 

Ivan Vega, associate organizing director of Future Leaders of America, said issues such as vaping and minors accessing cigarettes have become a major concern, particularly from the high school students with whom they work. 

“We feel really proud to see that the fruit of their labor and youth advocacy has given fruit, and we’re excited to see it being implemented,” Vega said. 

He said he grew up in a second-floor apartment in Oxnard and remembers coughing a lot when his downstairs neighbors would smoke.

“Oftentimes, families just have to tough it out because they can’t afford to move anywhere else,” Vega said. “I feel happy to have an ordinance in place that protects their health, because not everybody can afford to move when they’re being exposed to secondhand smoke.”

Other California cities have similar ordinances, including Carlsbad, Pasadena, Riverside, Berkeley and Fresno.

Vega said they’re advocating for an ordinance in Port Hueneme in Ventura County.