Lake County forest district to consider smoking ban at dog exercise areas

Smoking and vaping could be snuffed at dog exercise areas operated by the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

While complaints are rare, the forest board's operations committee on Monday said it wants to consider amending the existing smoking ban ordinance to include dog exercise areas.

Smoking and vaping is prohibited within 20 feet of any district building or open air dining facility, on or near any playground and at any program or event sponsored in whole or part by the forest district. A $50 fine is possible, though warnings are generally the first step.

Monday's discussion was in response to a concern by a frequent user who said she looked forward to daily walks with her golden retriever and was surprised and disappointed to see smokers at the dog park on occasion.

The woman said she and three family members have asthma and wondered about the lack of regulation. She brought the concern to Commissioner Jennifer Clark of Libertyville.

Clark forwarded the matter to the committee for discussion of whether dog exercise areas should be added to the list of places where smoking and vaping are prohibited.

Doing that requires a change to the district's general use ordinance. The operations committee reviews such actions and makes a recommendation to the full board.

"I don't think people would be surprised if we had our dog parks smoke-free," said Clark, a committee member and dog owner. "I think it would be good for our people and our dogs."

The district has been operating dog exercise areas since the late 1970s. It sells about 7,500 annual permits and 12,000 daily permits each year for five dog exercise facilities.

Mike Tully, chief operations officer, said if each annual holder visits a dog exercise area twice a week, that equates to an estimated 800,000 unique visits each year. To date, smoking at dog exercise areas has not been a common complaint, he said.

During routine patrols from April to June, forest rangers saw seven patrons smoking or vaping. Two were at Prairie Wolf, two at Duck Farm, and one each were seen at Lakewood, Waukegan Savanna and Independence Grove, Tully said.

Maintenance staff members reported rarely seeing discarded cigarette or cigar butts within the fenced portion of dog exercise areas but occasionally found them in the parking lots at the same frequency as in general preserves.

Tully said the initial cost to make and install signs at the five areas would be about $2,000.

The committee agreed to review an amendment at a future meeting.