Smoking will soon be banned in all City of Windsor municipally owned properties including parks, beaches, trails, recreational facilities and parking lots.
As part of the new bylaw the city is drafting, the WFCU Centre will have a designated smoking area and temporary designated smoking areas will be allowed under special event permits.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit was hoping for an full ban but Medical Officer of Health Dr. Gary Kirk says he is pleased with the changes that are going forward.
"With our knowledge about first hand and second hand smoke causing 80% of lung cancer deaths it seems like an unnecessary risk to take," says Kirk.
Council decided to move forward with the administration recommendation to allow temporary designated smoking areas for special events because there was a concern there would be a loss of revenue if people chose to bring their events somewhere else because of a smoking ban.
The new bylaw will not come into effect until the fall of this year as city staff still need to prepare the final wording.