Smoking banned on Church Street in Burlington, VT

The Church Street Marketplace in Burlington is now a smoke-free zone! Beginning Wednesday, December 17, smoking is no longer permitted in the Church Street Marketplace District. This includes the public right of way of Church Street between Pearl and Main Streets and the side streets immediately off of Church Street -- Main, College, Bank, Cherry and Pearl Streets -- where the sidewalk surface is bricked.

Colleges in the area can expect this to positively impact their efforts to improve tobacco and smoking policies. Thousands of worksites, campuses, outdoor areas, housing complexes and more across our nation and state have created smoke free zones for their properties. The new ordinance banning smoking on Church Street helps to send a consistent message in our community about the importance of reducing exposure to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke in public places.

Mariah Sanderson, Director of Burlington's prevention coalition, the Burlington Partnership for a Healthy Community, had this to say about the new ordinance, "BPHC is very enthusiastic about the smoking ban on Church Street and the positive impact we know it will have to support a vibrant, healthy downtown environment. Our coalition strongly supports efforts by our community to limit exposure of residents and visitors to secondhand smoke. Only 14% of Chittenden County residents and 17% of Vermonters smoke, yet 48% of people say they were exposed to secondhand smoke in the last 7 days (Vermont Adult Tobacco Survey). We need to take every measure to reduce this level of exposure and a smoking ban in the downtown area helps send a consistent message to our community about the individual and community consequences of smoking."

See coverage of the press conference on the new smoking ban.

Consequences for smoking on Church Street: Burlington Police Department will issue a warning for the first violation. Second violation is a $50 fine. Subsequent violations are a $100 fine.