The Grand Traverse County Parks & Recreation Commission is pursuing a ban on electronic cigarettes at its Civic Center facility, action that would make Traverse City the first Michigan community to enact such a ban.

It is illegal to use tobacco or cause smoke from cigarettes or any form of tobacco at the Civic Center, but because e-cigarettes don’t use tobacco or produce smoke (e-cigarettes involve the inhalation of nicotine via vapor), they do not currently fall under the ban, according to a review by the County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Concern over e-cigs was first brought to the commission’s attention by Commissioner David Grams, who cited their increased use at the Civic Center’s skate park.

Chris Forsyth, deputy civil counsel for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, says his preliminary research shows no other Michigan communities (nor the state itself) have an e-cigarette ban.

At its April meeting, the Parks & Recreation Commission passed a motion directing staff to work with Forsyth’s office to “put together verbiage that would add e-cigarettes to any location that currently bans cigarettes and tobacco.”

The Civic Center is the only Grand Traverse County owned or managed park that has a smoke-free and tobacco-free policy. It was put into effect in 2010 by the County Board of Commissioners.

Alisa Kroupa, president of the Parks & Rec Commission, tells The Ticker she explored the county board's original “philosophy” for instituting the ban and found that, while there were concerns about secondhand smoke, the primary reason was the exposure of children engaged in youth sports at the park to smokers.

“If we mimic that board philosophy, it would include e-cigarettes had the technology existed then,” Kroupa says. “I’m always hesitant to ban things, but you need to look at the philosophy behind the original rule.”

Concern has also been voiced by a couple of Parks & Rec commissioners about the potential for e-cigarettes to be used for inhaling other potentially harmful substances.

Kroupa warns that, if the commission decides it wants to expand an e-cigarette ban to other county parks, that’s a much broader discussion and a completely different process than simply making an amendment to the current ban at the Civic Center.

County Parks & Recreation Department Director Jason Jones says he endorses healthy behavior and lifestyles at any parks. “I’m proud the commission sees it as an issue and wants to take a statewide lead,” he says. “They want to be innovators.”

The commission will revisit the possible e-cigarette ban at its regular monthly meeting next Thursday, May 15. Commissioners will review recommended wording based on Forsyth’s research, and then potentially take action on a resolution to add e-cigarettes to the Civic Center’s current smoking ban.