SMOKING ORDINANCE :: GUIDELINES FOR INSTALLATION OF APPROVED DESIGNATED SMOKING AREA

1. Before installing a ventilation or filtration system in a designated smoking area of an eating establishment, bar, night club, billiard hall, bingo parlor, or bowling center; the owner or contractor must first contact the Building Inspections Department, 101 W Abram, Second Floor, to obtain a Mechanical Permit. An engineered stamped drawing must be submitted that shows the heating and air conditioning installation including the ventilation or filtration system, a complete floor plan of the facility including square footages, and the square footage calculations of the desired smoking area. Work should not begin until these plans have been reviewed. For further information, please contact Building Inspections at 817-459-6502.
    

2. Total designated smoking area shall not exceed thirty per cent of the net floor area. Net floor area means the total floor area of the interior of the facility, excluding the kitchen, restrooms, storage areas, and offices. The floor space of a bar inside a food establishment is considered part of the net floor space. Children’s play areas must be nonsmoking at all times. In the case of bowling centers, the net floor area also excludes the bowling lanes in addition to kitchen, restrooms, storage areas, and offices.
    

3. The ventilation system shall provide an air change every fifteen minutes and shall exhaust the air to the exterior of the building and shall not cause air from the smoking area to be drawn across the nonsmoking area.
    

4. An alternative system that does not exhaust to the outside may be approved under the following conditions:

   1. The smoking area must be substantially separated from the nonsmoking area by physical means, such as a partition and/or glazing.

   2. The smoking area must be provided with separate heating and cooling system from the system serving the nonsmoking areas.
       

5. The system must pass a test performed by the Building Inspection Department to verify that the system removes all visible smoke within 15 minutes and that air from the designated smoking area is not drawn across nonsmoking areas.
    

6. Upon approval, the facility must post the appropriate signs at all public entrances stating: "Smoking In Designated Areas Only". Approved smoking area must have signage indicating that it is a smoking area.
    

7. Smoking areas that fail the prescribed test shall be deemed to be nonsmoking until successfully retested. The owner shall be required to pass additional tests at any time the system appears not to meet the requirements.
    

8. The approval of a smoking area is granted to the owner of the facility. Should the facility change owners, the facility will be nonsmoking until the system has successfully passed the smoke test.

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