- December 4, 2025
Smoking in Palm Coast's parks and trails will no longer be allowed.
Palm Coast's City Council approved an ordinance prohibiting smoking and vaping in Palm Coast's public parks and trails. The ordinance passed in a 4-0 vote. Mayor Mike Norris was absent from the May 20 meeting.
The ordinance is based on a law Gov. Ron DeSantis passed in June 2024 called the Florida Clean Air Act, which allows municipalities to prohibit smoking or vaping tobacco products in public spaces, excluding unfiltered cigars.
"This is really to reduce public exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke," Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst said.
This was the first reading of the ordinance. A second read and vote on the ordinance will be had at the city's next business meeting on June 3.
The ordinance prohibits vaping in general and smoking tobacco products, "including cigarettes, pipe tobacco, filtered cigars,chewing tobacco, snuff, snus, or other plant product intended for inhalation, except for unfiltered cigars." City attorney Marcus Duffy said that the law and ordinance also includes marijuana.
Tyrese Gaines, the tobacco policy manager for Tobacco Free Florida, thanked the council for approving the ordinance.
"This, in and of itself, is a huge step," he said. "Obviously, it is very hard to enforce something like this but I think that it's the mindset of our leaders - people like you guys [the City Council] - advocating for it is huge and something that we need."
Flagler County and Flagler Beach have each passed similar ordinances based on DeSantis' Florida Clean Air Act, Hirst said, as well as some Volusia County municipalities. Flagler Beach also instituted a band on smoking on the beach in 2023.
Councilman Ty Miller he has seen adults smoking in the parks at local little league and other sport matches held in Palm Coast parks.
"I was surprised this didn't exist already," Miller said. "I'm glad we have this coming because I absolutely don't think that should be around children in any way."
Enforcement would be on the Flagler County Sheriff's Office while repercussions for violating the ordinance would depend on parameters the city manager sets, possibly varying from warnings to trespassing, Duffy said. Miller said it would be incumbent on community partners, especially in the Sports Alliance, to encourage people in their events at Palm Coast Parks adhere to the ordinance.
Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri suggested that if local sports organizations are not following this ordinance consistently, the city should have the ability to pull their event permits.
"I think we are perfectly in our ability to do that," she said. "I think that's a good way to ensure that people are abiding by this ordinance."
Hirst said the department will work on updating city signs in the parks to include the ordinance number once it goes into effect.
