Springville City joined other Utah cities this week in banning tobacco use in its public parks and playground areas.

City Attorney John Penrod said the city moved quickly to enact the ordinance after a presentation from the Utah County Health Department in June. The anti-smoking measure prohibits smoking in public parks, within 25 feet of bus stops and within 50 feet of mass gatherings

The council chose to model its law after Salt Lake City's ordinance, with more lenient penalties. "Instead of there being a huge fine, it's a $25 fine, and also they gave police officers discretion to give a warning," he said.

Penrod said a violation will be an infraction instead of a Class B misdemeanor, which most of the cities' laws require. The measure was brought before the council by the health department's Tobacco Prevention and Control division.

Similar presentations have been made to various cities in the state in an effort to have uniform prevention codes limiting secondhand smoke exposure, said Jen Tischler, health educator for Tobacco Prevention and Control.

Tischler said the movement began with a survey taken a year ago, asking smokers, non-smokers and former smokers what kind of smoking ordinance they would support. More than 5,000 surveys were collected, as well as 5,500 signatures on petitions from people favoring tobacco control.

Of the 5,112 surveyed, 96 percent favored some kind of policy change concerning tobacco use, Tischler said. Those surveyed represent the full spectrum of Utah County residents, and Tischler said researchers wanted an accurate cross section to include smokers in the study.

Featuring a higher percentage of smokers than currently exist in Utah County, 7 percent of the responses came from smokers and 7 percent came from former smokers.

"We really feel like we captured the population," she said.

Tischler said she felt it was important to have smokers' opinions because she did not want to violate the rights of the smoker. She works with tobacco users and said she did not want anyone to feel targeted, but the health of the public was a major concern.

"Honestly, people have a right to breath clean air that isn't going to give them cancer," she said.

Tischler said the responses of smokers was a surprise in the survey. More than 50 percent favored restricting tobacco use to a certain area, while 14 percent said all tobacco should be banned and 15 percent said cigarette use should be prohibited. The survey represented 1 percent of the county's population, while Tischler said the Center for Disease Control and Prevention generally only surveys .01 percent.

"We feel like we've really done our homework on this," she said.

Tischler is also the coordinator of Outrage, an anti-tobacco youth group. Springville members of the group participated in the presentation before their City Council.

Zach Gillen, 15, said he was first drawn to Outrage by a friend who had attended meetings. Gillen said his father had quit smoking, and he wanted to see fewer people hurt from secondhand smoke. He was surprised at what he didn't know about the danger.

"I learned a lot more in Outrage than in my health class about secondhand smoke," he said.

Gillen said he was happy to be able to talk to the City Council about the smoking ordinance. The ordinance can help protect children's health and reduce the influence of the smoking image as well.

"I've kind of felt like I've done something and helped out the kids a bit," he said.

In Utah County, the city of Orem is also considering an ordinance against smoking. The law, which will be discussed at Tuesday's council meeting, would prohibit smoking on city property and at mass gatherings of 25 people or more. City manager Jim Reams said the City Council has shown a lot of interest in examining smoking and other health issues.

"We're always interested in examining issues that affect residents," he said.