The Dallas City Council is recommending a smoking ban in city parks with no exceptions, NBC 5 has learned.
A final vote of the full Dallas City Council will come next and city staff members said the vote would be scheduled soon.
The recommendation Monday is stronger than the plan that came from the Dallas Park Board after months of study.
The Park Board supported exceptions to the smoking ban for golf courses, the Elm Fork Shooting Range and contract events that were already scheduled. Fair Park and The State Fair of Texas were not exceptions.
It is not clear if the ban includes electronic cigarettes.
Dallas City Councilman Philip Kingston argued that Houston has imposed a total park smoking ban and Dallas should do so too to protect public health.
Kingston said he uses the Elm Fork Shooting Range and smoke there is offensive.
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Councilman Lee Kleinman said a park smoking ban would be "well intended, but unenforceable."
If it passes the full Dallas City Council quickly, a Dallas park smoking ban could apply to this year's State Fair of Texas.
