Using electronic cigs?

The City of Kelowna has taken aim at E-cigarettes, drones and geocaching during its latest round of amendments to the Parks and Open Spaces bylaw.

Parks manager Ian Wilson presented those changes to council Monday afternoon.

At the top of the list was a change to the smoking bylaw to include electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) to the list of banned smoking materials and to expand the public spaces definition to include areas around a public transit exchange bus shelter or bus stop.

The issue of e-cigarettes was raised by Interior Health in a letter to the city.

The letter asked the city to include the product as part of its current cigarette ban.

"Concerns about the safety and efficiency of e-cigarettes have prompted Health Canada, the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration to warn consumers against using them," said Dr. Trevor Cornell in the letter to the city.

Among other things, Cornell said the product may contain toxic substances, there are no product safety standards, no evidence base that they are an effective quit smoking aid and may trigger cravings in youth who are trying to quit smoking.

"We commend the City of Kelowna for taking swift action to adopt e-cigarette prohibition in the existing bylaw," said Cornell.

Wilson added the city's regional transit department received several complaints about smoking around bus shelters prompting the addition of those areas as public spaces allowing the bylaw to include those areas.

Ironically, Councillor Charlie Hodge who suffers from emphysema came to the aid of smokers suggesting there be a proper smoking area with downtown City Park.

"I am the last person in the world, especially with my health condition, to be promoting smoking but I think there are those that come to our city from out of country who should not be made to feel like criminals because they want a cigarette," said Hodge.

"There should be a designated area somewhere in the park that is big enough and I hope staff look at putting one in for the summer."

Hodge said he would bring that item up a later date to be debated by the council as a whole.

The city amended several other portions of the bylaw, including:

New definitions around geocaching as well as specific rules for geocaching in parks to prevent environmental damage, reduce risks to geocache enthusiasts and to help prevent confusion or concerns.
A prohibition on flying an unmanned aircraft or drones in a park without a permit
The addition of 13 properties where it is now permissible to walk a dog on-leash.
The addition of Priest Creek Linear Park as a designated equestrian park

Wilson said banning non-permitted drones from flying over city parks addresses both a privacy and safety concern.

He also said a second water dog park is being contemplated in the city.

At present the only park where dogs are permitted to go in the lake is the nude beach at the end of Lakeshore.

"It's a complex issue but we do have a couple of promising leads," said Wilson.

"The government campground...this year there is a project on the books to demolish one of the old houses there and that may be a potential site off Poplar Point. But, we do want to do some neighbourhood engagement before we go there."

All of the changes will come into effect once council gives fourth and final reading within the next few weeks.