UPDATE: Council Votes to Get Rid of Smoking, Targeted Protests and Loud Parties

EDITOR'S NOTE: Look for stories on each of these items with more detail throughout the day.

Soon, San Clemente residents and visitors won't be allowed to smoke in city parks or parking lots, could be fined for loud parties and have new restrictions on public protesting.

The voted in favor of approving three ordinances Tuesday that would accomplish that. One ordinance would ban smoking in all public parks.

There are already bans in place for public trails, beaches, designated coastal trails and canyons. This ordinance would extend the ban to the rest of city parkland and lots. Officials expect the ban to be enforced through signs, park monitors and public education.

Also, the city will institute a loud-and-unruly-gathering ordinance that would impose a fine on people holding nuisance parties in residential areas. Residents hosting a cited gathering could be fined from $100 for the first citation, incrementally increasing to $1,000 for the fourth.

Another restriction in residential neighborhoods approved by the council, according to staff reports, is a ban on protesting and pickets within 200 feet of a specific residence.

The staff report says the ordinance is meant to discourage picketing targeted at a specific residence, which has happened regarding  members and labor issues.

Most recently, in April, members of Painters & Allied Trades District Council 36 inflated a giant rat in the back of a pickup truck in front of the home of Eliot Schneider, owner of GPS Painting and Wallcovering in Santa Ana. The union was angry that Schneider’s 60 employees left the union, and he was involved in litigation with the group, according to the San Clemente Times.

The staff report states that the ordinance is not meant to preclude protests in residential neighborhoods in general but to balance residents’ right to privacy with pickets rights to free speech.