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Smokers in Saskatoon might have to walk a bit farther before lighting up. The City of Saskatoon is considering expanding the non-smoking buffer around doors, windows and air intakes from three to 10 metres.
Joining The Evan Bray Show on Wednesday, Riversdale Business Improvement District (BID) executive director Randy Pshebylo said he thinks the city is trying to solve something that isn’t a problem.
At present, Pshebylo said he has not received a complaint in his two decades with the Riversdale BID concerning smoking in front of businesses with the three-metre buffer in place.
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“But we have had an inordinate amount of complaints for people sleeping in doorways and people smoking illegal substances in doorways that aren’t currently being dealt with,” Pshebylo stated.
“So, the bigger question, from my desk, is how does this get enforced – whatever distance you make it? Because what’s happening now isn’t being dealt with, at all.”
Referencing the report on the issue presented to city council, Pshebylo pointed out that the city is receiving one to three complaints annually and issuing about 15-25 tickets, typically around high schools.
“If I’m looking at it again through the lens of the business owner, I’m trying to attract people to an area in Riversdale to come down to a wildly successful restaurant scene. We’ve got some chef-driven restaurants that are hitting the national scope, (as) recently as yesterday,” Pshebylo said.
“How do I attract people of all stripes, colours, and vices, if you will? How can I accommodate them? Because they bring an economy with them as well.”
Pshebylo said people might visit an area like Riversdale for shopping, going for dinner in the evening, socializing with friends over drinks, and there is concern for the people who want to be able to enjoy those activities while also being able to step away for a moment, outside, to take a smoke break.
“How do you do that and accommodate that in a meaningful way for some dignity of sorts for people that do need that?” Pshebylo mused.
The City of Regina already made the change being proposed in Saskatoon in May 2017, when the city banned smoking and vaping within a 10-metre buffer zone of entrances, windows and air exchanges of public buildings.
At that time, the city also voted in favour of banning smoking and vaping at or within a 10-metre buffer zone of city-owned outdoor recreational facilities, including playgrounds, spray pads, swimming pools, skating rinks, off-leash areas, picnic tables, gazebos, exercise and track facilities, open-air stadiums and sports facilities, hard-surface courts and athletic fields.
The ban includes all seating areas at these spaces and also bans smoking in outdoor seating areas at bars and restaurants.
Pshebylo said that business improvement districts are like “malls without walls,” with BIDs managing the area where businesses have signed on to pay property tax and a levy to run the BID. Relevant issues are brought to the board, which has been appointed by council. Such issues can include zoning, parking rates or crime and safety concerns.
Certain rules from city council dictate that Saskatoon business owners and the general public have a responsibility to not block traffic by loitering, or with tables and chairs, Pshebylo explained.
However, pointing to the warming centre on Avenue C, Pshebylo said requirements for community cleanliness are not being enforced equally and these concerns are much more prevalent for the businesses his BID represents.
“The chaos that’s ensued there, without any true enforcement of keeping the sidewalk clear,” he explained, “(when) I have a business owner wanting to set up a table and chairs needs a permit, has to set certain guidelines and pay fees, and we’ve heard from the disability community that anyone who’s blind may have trouble navigating around the table and chairs.
“Well, no one’s said anything specifically about someone’s shopping cart and sleeping bags that are spilled all over the sidewalk, either., so that that needs to be addressed equally.”
The smoking bylaw change wasn’t something Pshebylo said his organization had complained about and when he learned changes were being considered, he said they felt “out of the blue.” He said much would need to be considered, with narrow housing developments and apartment or townhouse balconies also possibly affected by the expansion of the smoking buffer zone.
“There are many live/work areas that could spill over with people on the sidewalk below my apartment,” he said. “That smoke would waft over. But at the same time, given the outdoors, I think there needs to be a balance, and this is a very fine balancing act that I think anyone in that position would have trouble trying to find that middle ground that would balance all the opposing views.”
Pshebylo said whatever can be done in this situation to aid businesses, which he characterized as “handcuffed” to their areas of the city, he said the hope is for businesses to be able to function, flourish and still attract customers.
