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• Warner Center Homeowners Demand Smoke-Free Living 

Homeowners at The Met, a popular condominium located at the Warner Center in Woodland Hills have begun a process of petitioning to restrict smoking in both private and common areas at the complex. The campaign to make The Met smoke-free began after multiple claims of unwanted secondhand smoke coming into units went unresolved by the HOA.

Brian Meert, a homeowner at The Met stated, "The homeowner below me had a medical marijuana license and when he smoked, the unwanted secondhand smoke would rise into my condo. I tried working with the HOA multiple times to find a solution, but their response was that it is just the way the building was designed."

"The issue of smoke traveling to other units has been one of the major concerns at The Met," states Meert. "If the buildings are unable to restrict smoke from traveling between units, I believe the smoking policy should be a decision that the homeowners make as it directly affects their health and potential property value."

An official website for The Met Smoke-Free campaign has been posted online at http://www.TheMetSmokeFree.com.

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• No-smoking housing catches on in Dallas-Fort Worth  

Welcome to the latest no-smoking frontier: private homes. Smoke-free housing could become as common as no-pet policies.

Nationwide, more landlords are barring tenants from lighting up to reduce neighbors' exposure to secondhand smoke, joining a long list of cities, companies and hotels that have done the same. The Smokefree Apartment House Registry features about 300 listings nationally, up from 11 when it began in 2001. . . .

California is the leader in smoke-free apartments, with 17 cities, including Santa Barbara and Sacramento, having passed policies.

In North Texas, smoke-free housing is scarce. But a handful of new apartment complexes offer smoke-free or partially smoke-free living, reflecting a budding trend. . . .

The Dakota in Dallas had no trouble filling its smoke-free, 20-unit building, said Kimberly Walker, regional property manager for owner Lincoln Property Co. The new complex has 496 apartments in 25 buildings near Northwest Highway and North Central Expressway.

No smoking is part of a bigger picture for two projects.

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• Smoking rule fires up residents 

"I don't think anybody has the right to tell me what to do in my own apartment unless it is against the law," said Cornell, 66, a smoker for 50 years.

Vicksburg Halls in April last year adopted rules prohibiting smoking in its apartments, a decision approved by the Marysville Housing Commission.

Wayne Pyden, the executive director of the complex, said as of Oct. 1, any resident caught smoking in his or her apartment will be evicted. . . .

Vicksburg Halls is home to about 20 smokers, of which 17 still are allowed to smoke in their apartments, since they were residents before the new rules.

Most of those smokers are outraged by the rule.

Outside the complex Tuesday, a group of residents -- almost all smokers -- complained about the situation.

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AFD Urging People to Monitor Smoking Materials 

Smoking related fires are up in Central Texas. Smoldering cigarettes caused three apartment fires in less than two weeks.

Tuesday, the Austin Fire Department held a news conference about the dangers of leaving cigarettes unattended.

At the Retreat at Barton Creek apartments in South Austin, one cigarette destroyed 24 units, and caused damage totaling more than $2 million.

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• Smoking ban gets lawyer’s green light  

An attorney for the homeowners association at the Centennial affordable-housing complex says a ban on cigarette smoking in its privately owned units is viable and will hold up in court.

When the homeowners association board proposed banning smoking in the 92 privately owned condominiums, some residents — smokers and non — balked, arguing that the ban would set a dangerous precedent for infringing on civil liberties and possibly violating the constitutional right to privacy.

“Preliminary findings indicate that we will be able to make Centennial a ‘smoke-free environment’ if we so choose,” homeowners association board president Ed Cross wrote to residents in a letter this week. “Legal precedent has stated that smoking is not a constitutionally protected right.” . . .

attorney, Fred Peirce, has since prepared a legal argument for the ban that he will present at a Centennial homeowners meeting on Aug. 19.

That meeting will also include remarks from Aspen Fire Marshal Ed Van Walraven, who recommended that Centennial ban smoking after a June fire caused by a smoldering cigarette destroyed 10 apartments in the Castle Ridge affordable-housing complex. (

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• North Texas Neighborhood Bans Smoking 

Monterra Village is a 100 percent smoke-free apartment complex in suburban Fort Worth.

"You can walk outside and know that you can breathe the air and you're not going to breathe in secondhand smoke from someone who chooses to do that," said Guidry.

Monterra Village is a multimillion-dollar gamble. It is the first major housing development in North Texas that is saying no vacancy to smokers.

Representatives for Monterra Village said there will eventually be more than 1,000 residences in the complex and that smokers are not allowed to smoke anywhere while on community property -- including in their own cars.

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4 Apartment fires, 3 caused by cigarette smoking 

the third time this week a cigarette is being blamed for causing a fire at an apartment complex.

Firefighters were called to the Willow Wood apartments on Willow Springs Road near St. Edwards University Friday morning around 1 a.m. . . .

Fire officials said someone left a cigarette on an upholstered loveseat on a second floor balcony, which started the fire. . . .

A cigarette Sunday started a fire at the Retreat at Barton Creek, and on Tuesday smoking material was blamed for a fire at the Vista Ridge Apartments in Round Rock. . . .

Smoking: Number 6

As you probably realize, many people still smoke. Smoking materials, in fact, are the leading cause of death in fire. That's because many smokers fall asleep while smoking and cigarettes, cigars, matches and lighters can ignite bedding or furniture. As in all fires, the toxic gases given off by the fire will cause death long before the flames reach you.

* Don't allow smoking in your house.

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Cigarette butts cited in fire trend  

When Mike Post showed up Monday morning at the fire scene in East St. Cloud, he saw something that he thinks is becoming way too common.

The city's fire marshal saw cigarette butts overflowing from a plastic ice cream bucket of sand and water. A discarded butt caught fire, aided by the other butts, and burned until a fire was raging on a second-story balcony at 1323 Second St. NE.

"If they would not have been home today, it would have been a major fire. The fire was well on its way to intruding into the building, and it would not have gone out," Post said.

Monday's fire was the fourth since April, and third in the past 17 days, in which careless disposal of smoking materials was cited as the cause. . . .

The issue has not gone unnoticed by the people who own and manage the apartment units in St. Cloud.

"It is a problem," said Lisa Marvin, president of the Central Minnesota Multi-Housing Association. "Particularly, we see the problem with balconies and decks."

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Fire Destroys Lincoln Apartments 

Investigators say the fire that destroyed a Lincoln apartment complex Saturday morning started on a third floor balcony after someone put out a cigarette in a flammable plastic container.

The three-alarm fire started shortly after 6 a.m. destroying all 24 units at the Thomasbrook Apartments

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Cigarette Butt Litter is Choking LA County 

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Stevens & Wilkinson Helping to Reinvent the Cigar Factory 

Stevens & Wilkinson Stang & Newdow, Inc. has been retained by The Simpson Organization to provide architectural and engineering services for the 125-year-old Cigar Factory in Charleston, SC. Stevens & Wilkinson Principal Ron Stang, AIA, made the announcement.

The Cigar Factory is a Victorian industrial building built in 1882 as the Charleston Cotton Mills. In 1903, the plant was leased to the American Cigar Company which operated the factory until 1973.

Listed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places, the Cigar Factory is now being reinvented.

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Centennial mulls smoking ban 

ASPEN — A smoking ban is being contemplated throughout all privately owned condominiums at Centennial after two recent cigarette-caused fires broke out there and at another Aspen affordable-housing complex. ... The ban, which will be discussed by the condominium association board Tuesday, comes in response to a fire that broke out at the Castle Ridge apartment complex on June 10. A smoldering cigarette left in potting soil on a balcony destroyed a building and left 17 people homeless.

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• Fires prompt cigarette safety warning  

Two recent fires, both caused by cigarettes left burning in planters, are ringing a note of alarm throughout the community and prompting local fire officials to want to get the word out about fire safety essentials.

The late night Castle Ridge fire, which destroyed an entire apartment building and left 17 local employees homeless, could have been less devastating had the project been built under more modern building codes, but it also could have been worse in terms of life safety . . .

Cigarette smoking is actually the primary cause of death in fires (but not the primary cause of fires), said Aspen Fire Marshall Ed VanWalraven, because fires started by cigarettes have a tendency to flare up hours after they’re actually started. This often occurs at night when people are sleeping, if, for example, an ashtray falls on to a sofa.

Cigarette smoking is now banned at Castle Ridge, and the Centennial condominium owners association is reportedly considering the same ban.

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JENSEN: Apartment smoking calls attention to a real concern  

In response to the letter "Woodland man complains about smoking:" I was pleased to see your recent letter regarding exposure to second hand smoke at your apartment as I feel it calls to attention a legitimate concern that many in the community have.

Recently, the Smoke-free Apartments Project, a part of the Yolo County Health Department, conducted tenant surveys at various complexes in Davis and Woodland. The results showed that nearly 90 percent of people felt that smoking restrictions should be put in place in apartment complexes, . . .

We have found in our work that while apartment owners and mangers have the ability to create change, many are unaware of their legal right to do so. It seems that many managers and owners are concerned about legal action from tenants who smoke. However, it is perfectly legal to establish smoking restrictions in apartment complexes. No smoking rules are just like no pets or no loud music rules.

Additionally, we are available to provide aid to apartment owners and managers that are considering a smoke free policy. This aid includes surveying tenants and assisting landlords to implement smoke free policy.

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• No smoking in apartments? 

But when an apartment building goes up in flames as a result of careless smoking, as residents witnessed earlier this month at the Cunat-owned Northfield Court Apartments in Harvard, the question of what tenants should be allowed to do in their own homes becomes less clear-cut.

"With things like pets and smoking, and even the way that people use their kitchens, we attempt to allow people to operate as if it was their own home, and we get involved when it begins to have an impact on their neighbors," Zock said. "When an event like [the June 3 fire] happens, there's obviously a massive impact. ... It definitely gives us cause to do research."

The Northfield Court apartment fire was the second major apartment fire in McHenry County since 2007 that was caused by a cigarette. On May 29, 2007, more than 40 people lost their homes . . .

And just last month, an elderly woman was killed . . .

But some landlords are taking the initiative and making their own properties smoke-free.

Jenna Maicke, who handles operations and tenant complaints for Woodstock-based property management company Advantage Plus Inc., said making most of the company's rental units smoke-free had not hurt business.

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