Fenwick Refines Ordinance Banning Beach Smoking

FENWICK ISLAND – Officials in Fenwick Island this week approved a first reading to prohibit smoking on the beach, but questioned enforcement measures along unincorporated portions to the south.

In a Fenwick Island Town Council meeting last Friday, Charter and Ordinance Committee Chair Bill Weistling presented the council with changes and additions to the ordinance that would provide definitions for smoking and prohibit such activity on the beach.

Weistling said the changes were presented to the council for a first reading last month, but was pulled off the agenda to correct wording that could unintentionally prohibit the use of oxygen, inhalers and the like.

“Last month, we had this for a first reading and decided to send it back to (Charter and Ordinance) because the definition was restrictive on anything,” he said.

While none expressed concerns over the proposed ordinance changes, Councilwoman Julie Lee asked about prohibiting smoking along unincorporated portions of the beach.

She said a lifeguard informed her that people could smoke on the beach from the south side of the town’s corporate limits at Atlantic Street to the state line, a portion controlled by the Fenwick Island State Park.

“Would that be the case?” she said.

Weistling agreed.

“I would think so,” he said. “We have no authority.”

Lee asked if the state park had any rules toward smoking on the beach.

Fenwick Island Beach Patrol Capt. Tim Ferry explained the state park cannot prohibit smoking.

“It’s not mandatory,” he said. “It is voluntary. Technically, they have a very difficult time enforcing it themselves. They can ask people to voluntarily stop or to go over to the dunes.”

Ferry said he deals with the issue quite frequently along unincorporated portions of the beach, but said most people were compliant.

The council voted 7-0 in favor of approving the first reading.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.