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<br />ORDINANCE NO. 07-3032
<br />
<br />AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 50 "PARKS AND RECREATION" OF THE CODE OF
<br />ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS BY ADDING NEW SECTION 50-4, "USE OF
<br />TOBACCO PRODUCTS ON ATHLETIC PLAY FIELDS AND RECREATIONAL VENUES", AND
<br />PROHIBITING THE USE OF TOBACCO PRODUCTS ON CITY-OWNED ATHLETIC PLAY FIELDS
<br />OR RECREATIONAL VENUES, INCLUDING ADJACENT SPECTATOR AREAS, WHILE BEING USED
<br />FOR ORGANIZED YOUTH ATHLETIC EVENTS OR RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES; PROVIDING
<br />FOR A PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED $500 FOR EACH OFFENSE; PROVIDING A SEVERABLITY
<br />CLAUSE; CONTAINING AN OPEN MEETINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLICATION OF
<br />THE CAPTION HEREOF; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE HEREOF;
<br />
<br />BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE:
<br />
<br />Section 1. Chapter 50 "Parks and Recreation", Article I "In General", of the Code of Ordinances of the City of La
<br />Porte, Texas is hereby amended by adding new Section 50-4 "Use of Tobacco Products on Athletic Play Fields and
<br />Recreational Venues", which said section shall read as follows:
<br />
<br />"Sec. 50-4. Use of Tobacco Products on Athletic Play Fields and Recreational Venues
<br />
<br />(a) The following words or terms when used in this section shall have the following meanings, unless the
<br />context clearly indicates otherwise:
<br />
<br />(l)Parks. A park, conservation area, playground, beach, recreation center or other area in the City owned,
<br />leased or used, wholly or in part, by the City for such purposes or which is designated by the City Council as a
<br />park.
<br />
<br />(2)Tobacco Product. Cigarette, cigar, cheroot, stogie, perique, granulated, plug cut, crimped cut, ready, rugged
<br />and other smoking tobacco; snuff, snuff flower, cavendish, plug and twist tobacco; fine cut and other chewing
<br />tobaccos; shorts, refuse scripts, clippings, cuttings, and sweepings of tobacco; and other kinds and forms of
<br />tobacco, prepared in such a manner as to be suitable for chewing, sniffing, or smoking in a pipe; rolling paper or
<br />other tobacco-related devices.
<br />
<br />(3)Tobacco Product Use. Smoking, chewing, snuffing or otherwise inhaling or ingesting any tobacco product.
<br />
<br />(4) Athletic Play Fields. A baseball field, softball field, soccer field that has been designed for regulation play or
<br />practice play at a park.
<br />
<br />(5) Ad Hoc Use of Park. Use of an undesignated area of a park (i.e. open space) for organized youth athletic
<br />practice use.
<br />
<br />(6) Recreation Venue. A facility occasionally used for youth sports or recreational events such as fishing and
<br />riding, either organized or non-organized; including the Lomax Arena, the Sylvan Beach Fishing Pier, the
<br />Seabreeze Fishing Pier, the Little Cedar Bayou Nature Trail and Bird-watching Stand, the San Jacinto Pool, the
<br />Little Cedar Bayou Wave Pool, the Northwest Pool, the Fairmont Pool, the Brookglen Pool and the La Porte
<br />Recreation & Fitness Center.
<br />
<br />(b) A person commits an offense if he or she uses tobacco products on City-owned athletic play fields or
<br />recreation venues, or ad hoc use of park, including their spectator areas, while the fields and venues and/or ad hoc
<br />areas are being used for organized youth athletic or recreational events, or where youths are present and are using
<br />said recreational venues independently of organized athletic or recreational activities. All such areas with the
<br />exception of ad hoc areas shall be posted by appropriate signs and markers as designated by the Director of Parks &
<br />Recreation.
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