YPSILANTI, Mich. – The city of Ypsilanti is looking to crack down on smoking in public parks.
Ypsilanti has small neighborhood parks called tot lots with no smoking, but the city is considering expanding that to playgrounds in all their parks.
Evan Sweet of Ypsilanti City Council said while it is new for this city, it is not a new concept. Canton Township, nearby, made a similar decision in 2020.
“There’s a lot of communities in the state of Michigan and throughout the country that have ordinances similar to this,” said Sweet. “Some are encompassing of specific limitations as to how many feet away from include entire park systems.”
He said the Ypsilanti Parks and Recreation Commission brought the idea to the council after reviewing the city’s current ordinances and realizing there could be a benefit to expanding the rule.
Changes would include no smoking cigarettes or e-cigarettes inside city buildings and less than 15 feet away from all playground equipment at city parks.
“Our main goal with this is public education,” Sweet said. “We will be using signage in the parks, if this was to pass, to promote nonsmoking, healthy lungs.”
Tuesday (Sept. 5), the city council voted unanimously to support the change; it goes to one last vote at their next September meeting.