Even more meeting time went into copying the county smoking and vaping ban onto parks people already use

On Aug. 3 the St. Augustine Beach City Commission passed Ordinance 2026-07 on final reading. The vote copies St. Johns County's smoking and vaping ban onto city-owned parks, the ocean pier, Splash Park, and Ocean Hammock Park — ground residents already use without a ticket.

Nobody spoke at the hearing. Commissioners still spent the night on a misspelled "ensuring" and a slash that looked like an italic "i," then voted it through without opposition after the title was read in full. Park smoking and vaping rules are now ordinance — one more written limit on what adults can do on public sand and green space.

The same ordinance widened the city's littering definition so the new park rules and the trash rules travel together. On May 4, Brenda Dirkse of 638 Bowers Court, a tobacco treatment specialist for Tobacco Free St. Johns, had asked the board to follow the county's beach-and-park ban and noted Ocean Hammock Park still sat outside it. Three months of meeting time to copy that map onto parks the city already polices.