Elmhurst to ban tobacco use in most parks

The chance to legally light up a cigarette or chew tobacco in one of Elmhurst's 28 parks is about to come to an end.

The park district board on Monday unanimously approved plans to ban tobacco use throughout the park system with two exceptions: the Sugar Creek Golf Course and during paid rentals at the Wilder Mansion.

The district began the push toward tobacco-free parks in March, Executive Director Jim Rogers said, and now has put together a plan for implementing the ban and educating the public to its value.

The board is expected to officially approve the measure on Sept. 11 and the law will go into effect on Nov. 17 to coincide with the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout.

Those violating the ban could face fines of between $100 and $250.

Paid events at the Wilder Mansion, which is owned by the park district and hosts roughly 200 activities a year - including weddings - will be excluded.

"We were concerned both about the challenges that we would face in terms of lost revenue opportunities and bookings at the mansion," Rogers said. "But also, quite frankly, about the experience that folks will have."

Similar concerns led the district to exempt Sugar Creek from the ban.

"(There's) a restaurant and bar at Sugar Creek and so it (tobacco) is a very common part of the golfing experience," Rogers said. "Folks like to have a smoke after their round or have a cigar on the deck afterward."

Rogers said both the mansion and golf course are operated to make a profit that the district then reinvests in the park system.

A 2012 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates close to 21 percent of Illinois residents 18 and older identify as smokers.

Rogers said the district will work to spread word of the tobacco ban through its seasonal brochure and social media accounts both this year and again next spring when outdoor activities ramp back up.

He said the 2008 Smoke Free Illinois Act that banned smoking in many public places raised similar concerns and questions, but he's confident park visitors will respect the new law.

"Really, it comes through education," he said. "Once the message is out, people will understand it and, for the most part, they'll abide by it."

While Elmhurst is one of the early adopters of a tobacco ban, Rogers said, the district is hardly alone. Other DuPage districts that have enacted such bans include Addison, Glen Ellym, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Roselle, Warrenville and West Chicago.