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Want to smoke in a Portland park? The city is looking at enacting a potential smoking ban across the city's 209 parks.

(Associated Press)

Portland is considering a smoking ban in all city parks, according to Commissioner Amanda Fritz's office.

, a volunteer citizen-run advisory group, is examining what it would take to ban cigarettes and other smokable tobacco products in the city's public parks. The board has discussed a potential ban several times this year, most recently at a meeting Wednesday.

Fritz asked the board to look at a potential ban.

The parks board appointed a committee to analyze whether a ban was necessary and what a policy might look like. "We're just trying to get our facts and information down," said Andy Nelson, board chairman.

Enforcing a potential ban could be difficult, given that the bureau employs roughly

to cover more than 200 parks.

Tim Crail, Fritz's policy director, said "nothing is imminent."

The volunteer board serves strictly as an advisory body. Crail said that if and when the board offers a recommendation, Fritz would "definitely have a public process," to further debate any policy change. But Crail said he wasn't certain if that policy change would necessarily need a City Council hearing.

City parks already have existing restrictions on cigarettes and other smokable tobacco products, Nelson said.

In additional to state rules that say smokers must be at least 10 feet from a public building, the city also requires smokers to be at least 25 feet away from playgrounds and picnic tables.

Crail said the proposed ban would apply to all parks. The city is looking at what that means for park-owned facilities such as golf courses and the Portland International Raceway, which sits on 291 acres in North Portland. The city already bans smoking in downtown's Pioneer Courthouse Square and Director Park.

Nelson said the initial board discussion prompted "a lot of visceral and emotional responses."

He said the board members want more information before making a formal recommendation to Fritz.

If Portland enacts a ban, the city would join San Jose, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia as major cities that ban smoking in public parks,

Hillsboro enacted a smoking ban in 2009, and Forest Grove just approved a measure earlier this year.

There's no clear timetable for coming up with a policy recommendation for Portland, Crail said.

"I don't think there would be any significant cost," he added.

The parks board asked for more information about who smokes, who would be most affected by a ban, and what cities such as Philadelphia are doing with enforcement and other issues connected to enacting a new ban.

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-- Andrew Theen