ENCINITAS — With a required second reading of the resolution, the City Council officially adopted an ordinance banning smoking at the city’s beaches, parks, trails and outdoor dining establishments during the regular meeting March 12.

The ban will take effect April 12. A violation would be an infraction of the city code with fines set at $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for a third.

Parks and Recreation Department Director Chris Hazeltine said signs informing the public of the new law would be purchased immediately and posted at all of the city-operated beaches. The cost of the signs is estimated at $5,000.

Areas included in the ban are Grandview Beach; Beacon’s Beach; Stone Steps Beach; Moonlight State Beach; D Street Viewpoint; Swami’s Beach; viewpoints at H, I and J streets; and the North El Portal and Rosetta Street viewpoints.

“I’m thrilled,” said Encinitas resident Candice Porter, a prevention specialist with the San Dieguito Alliance for a Drug Free Youth. She said that the nonprofit organization presented the idea of a smoking ban to the City Council in 2003.

The group presented the council with a mountain of scientific evidence from the American Lung Association, among others, on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke and the organization’s experience during a beach cleanup effort in which it collected more than 6,000 cigarette butts in less than an hour.

“This has been in the works for a long time,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Maggie Houlihan, a longtime supporter of the ban, said she was pleased with the level of public participation in passing the ordinance. Several high school students attended the meeting to voice their support for the ban.

Alliance members previously presented the council with two surveys that showed residents overwhelmingly approved of a smoking ban on the beach.

The 2002 survey recorded 221 beachgoers at Moonlight Beach with 91 percent supporting a ban.

“Even smokers told us they wouldn’t smoke on the beach,” Porter said.

In 2003, the group collected 300 postcards from residents supporting a ban. Although the evidence was presented to the council, Porter said no action was taken.

Mayor Jerome Stocks and Councilmen James Bond and Dan Dalager opposed the ban in previous years. However, all had a change of heart in recent months and voted to approve the ban.

“Last but not least,” said Encinitas resident Lou Fuller, referring to the fact that the city is one of the last coastal cities in San Diego County to ban smoking at the beaches.

“Now I won’t have to constantly move my spot on the sand to a smoke-free area,” he said.