SOUTH BETHANY, Del. - At nearly all of Delmarva's beaches, smoking restrictions have kept cigarettes away. But the sole exception has been South Bethany, which currently has no restrictions on smoking or alcohol use. Now the town is considering a change.
In the next couple weeks, the town is sending out a survey to residents, inquiring about a hodge-podge of issues, including a potential smoking ban. Below is the list of questions in the survey:
Question 1: "Would you support adopting smoking restrictions on the beach?"
Question 2: "Would you support adopting a no-alcohol policy on the beach?"
Question 3: "Should the Town take steps to improve street lighting?"
Question 4: "Would you support a phased plan to improve beach access?"
Question 5: "Should the Town explore burying the overhead wires/lines?"
Question 6: "Are you willing to support a tax increase if required to implement the above?"
Question 7: "Would you support a change in the time of Town Council Friday meetings?"
Question 8: "Have you seen improvement in our Town since the last Survey?"
Question 9: "Should the Town continue to provide and pay for activities such as Coffee with the Council?"
Question 10: "Should the Town continue to provide and pay for family events such as Polar Plunge, the 4th of July Parade Float, the 4th of July Boat Parade, Movie Night?"
Question 11: "Would you like to have more Town sponsored/family events?"
Councilman George Junkin said the questions are meant to guide the council's actions, in regards to a possible smoking ban.
"We want to know what the people want," he said. "We want to know if a significant portion of the population in South Bethany would like to see smoking banned on the beach."
South Bethany would be the last beach town in the region to ban smoking. The push all began in 2011 when Bethany Beach banned smoking on its beaches. A year later in 2012, the trend continued as Delaware banned smoking on all of its state beaches.
In 2013, both Fenwick Island and Dewey Beach added their beaches to the growing list of prohibited areas. In 2014, Rehoboth Beach, Ocean City, and Lewes did so as well.
On Monday afternoon, WBOC caught up with Teresa Keller of Pennsylvania, who was smoking a cigarette. She said she didn't want South Bethany to join the long list of smoke-free beaches.
"I think it's a free world," she said. "And you should be able to do what you want to do and where you want to do it. If people don't like where you're smoking, then they can go to a different part of the beach."
Resident Richard Schmidt said that he was on board with the smoking ban.
"I'm all for that," he said. "Being a non-smoker - because you can smell the smoke, which I don't like."
Other residents like Albert Branson were less inviting of new regulation.
"Out on the beach," he said. "I don't think it interferes with people's lifestyle or their activities during the day... If there's not a problem, then don't create one."
The ability or desire to enforce these ordinances is another factor.
In Rehoboth Beach, there have been 450 warnings and 11 arrests since the policy was initiated in March of 2014. Meanwhile, The Lewes Police Department has reported zero complaints or citations, since the town's ordinance was passed in December of 2014.
