FARMINGTON — The Davis County Health Department is accepting public comment on a proposed rule to ban smoking in outdoor public places.

If the county's Board of Health passes the rule during its June 12 meeting, smoking would be prohibited at parks, playgrounds, recreational areas, most parts of golf courses, fairgrounds, amusement parks, cemeteries and outdoor eating areas.

Golf-course fairways would be exempt from the ban.

The proposed rule states that business owners may apply for a permit from the health department to create a designated smoking area within an outdoor public place. But the area must be clearly marked as a smoking area and must be at least 25 feet away from an outdoor place where people gather, in order to minimize secondhand smoke exposure.

The rule would be enforceable by any peace- or code-enforcement officer and would make any violation a Class B misdemeanor, with a recommended $25 fine for the first offense.

A $100 fine is recommended for subsequent offenses within a two-year period of the first violation.

A public hearing will be held Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Room 230 of the Davis County Memorial Courthouse, located at 28 E. State, in Farmington.

A copy of the regulation is available online at www.daviscountyutah.gov

/health and at the health department, located at 50 E. State in Farmington.

Written comments concerning the regulation will be included in the record if received at the department office before 5 p.m. on June 5.

If passed, the rule would take effect Jan. 1, 2008, and "No smoking" signs would have to be posted in every outdoor public place by Jan. 1, 2009.

Sandy, Salt Lake City and Midvale already regulate smoking outdoors, and Clinton was the first city in Davis County and the state to institute such a ban, said Lewis Garrett, director of the Davis County Health Department.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com