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PALS members offer thoughts on possible smoking ban
By Chris Roark, Staff Writer
In the early discussion phases of a possible smoking restriction public gathering places in Flower Mound, the town’s Parks, Arts and Library Services (PALS) board weighed in on the issue during a work session Thursday on how it should be applied to park locations.
Of the nine board members present during the discussion, all of them favored prohibiting smoking at athletic complexes during games and practices, as well as playgrounds and possibly the future botanical gardens and amphitheater.
The group differed on their thoughts of how far the restrictions should go. Some favored restrictions on all parks and all trails. Others wanted the restrictions just at athletic events.
Board member Angie Cox agreed, adding the consideration of children in the area.
“I have four kids, and we play ball a lot,” Cox said. “And, I don’t want to see all of the cigarette butts being bad examples for the children near the playgrounds and ball fields.”
Others agreed to prohibiting smoking around those areas but said there need to be exceptions at times, especially during big community events.
“If you let them smoke on the trails, there will be cigarettes on the trails, and it could cause a fire in the summer time,” said board member Sweety Bowman. “But, when we have Fiesta Flower Mound, we’re going to let them drink. Are we going to let them smoke?”
Chuck Jennings, recreation manager, gave the PALS board a presentation that included what neighboring cities have in place regarding smoking. Of the 13 cities examined, nine had no-smoking ordinances of some kind in park areas. Those ranged from Coppell’s ordinance, which prohibits smoking within all park facilities, to Denton’s ordinance, which doesn’t allow smoking within athletic complexes while a youth league game is being played.
Parks and Recreation director Jack Jones will inform the town council of the PALS board’s views at an upcoming work session, where the council will discuss the issue.
Town staff also presented the board with details on the 2009 Wild About Flower Mound event.
The event will take place 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. April 17 and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 18 at Bakersfield Park.
Potential attractions include local and regional entertainment, a car show, business expo, artist village, kids zone and local/regional food, arts, crafts and non-profit organizations.
The town joined with the Flower Mound Chamber of Commerce last year in hopes of having the event, but it was canceled in March because of lack of financial support.
This year, the town will organize and sponsor the event with assistance from the chamber.
Also at the workshop, the board gave direction to resident Connie Vickers for a project she is looking to lead that would give the town a historical chronicle of Flower Mound’s history.
Post Oak Park, trailhead public hearing set for Oct. 23
The conceptual schematic master plans for Post Oak Park, as well as a one-acre tract of land located at 5101 Wichita Trail, will be presented by the undeveloped park land subcommittee in a public hearing Oct. 23 at town hall. The town will update its Web site with the master plans next week at www.flower-mound.com. Click on “Parks and Recreation”, then click on “Drawing Board”.
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