JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Smoking by the water may soon be banned in Jacksonville Beach, one of only two beaches in northeast Florida still allowing it.
The Jacksonville Beach City Council is going over a possible new rule to stop people from smoking tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars, and pipes while at the beach after it says its received many complaints about cigarette butts being left in the sand and secondhand smoke in the air.
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For people like Ted Burkstresser, who has been living in Jax Beach for the last 50 years, cigarette butts are the kind he doesn’t want sitting in the sand.
“All kinds of things eat cigarette butts and they kill them. I’ve never liked smoking cigarettes and think there’s no place for them on the beach,” Burkstresser said.
Neptune and Atlantic beaches both have rules banning smoking on the beach. Neptune Beach, though, also has a vaping ban, which the Jacksonville Beach proposal doesn’t include. St. Augustine Beach is the only other one in northeast Florida without a smoking ban in its city rules.
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“The smoke is just awful,” said Carolina Carvalho-Cross, who went to the southern end of Jax Beach with her mom to avoid cigarette butts she saw by the pier. “You can smell it when you’re sitting next to someone who’s smoking, even though you think you’re in an outdoor space, and you wouldn’t be able to smell it, you do.”
The ban being considered by Jax Beach city council, if passed, would mean a fine of up to $50 for anyone caught smoking at the beach. Anyone who refuses to sign the citation they receive will get another $200 fine added to it.
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“We wanna smell suntan lotion, we want to smell beach vibes, we don’t want to smell cigarettes,” said Kelly Cutler, a mom living on Jax Beach who doesn’t want her kids to walk through cigarette butts left on the beach.
Action News Jax reached out to the city of Jacksonville Beach Police Department to ask how it would enforce the smoking ban if it ends up being passed. The department said it wouldn’t comment on any ordinances from the city council that haven’t yet been approved.
Jax Beach city council is expected to vote on the ban for the first time in its meeting next Monday at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
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