Naples condo association could ban residents from smoking on their own back porch

Article Courtesy of FOX 4 -- Naples

By Emily Nelson

Published March 1, 2014

 

It's a heated debate going on right now at the Fiddlers Creek community in Naples.

Richard Miller rents a condo in the upscale neighborhood, and he is fuming.

"I think this is totally unfair," Miller said. "How do you tell someone who paid a fortune to live here that they can't do what they want on their own property?" he added.
    

Now retired, Miller likes to spend his evenings on his lanai sipping a glass of wine and smoking a cigar. But his neighbors living above and beside him don't share his love of stogies. 

"He came running over to me yelling... put that cigar out!" Miller said referring to a confrontation he had with one of his disgruntled neighbors.

Owners at Fiddlers Creek shell out up to $750,000 on their condo homes and hefty

association fees. Last night the homeowners association voted to ban smoking in all common areas and even included the lanai where Richard likes to smoke those cigars.

"The way it's set up right now, the rules are going to be for everybody else. If there's ten of us who like to smoke the hell with us," Miller said.

One of those homeowners at the meeting said the overwhelming majority were in favor of the ban. 

But other neighbors told 4 In Your Corner it's not a cut and dried issue. 

"It's a tough one because it's a pull between personal freedom and respect for your neighbor," neighbor Michael Horowitz said. 

His wife Susan Horowitz added, "I think they can smoke if they want, but they should do it inside their home."

I talked to the association president who wished to remain anonymous and he told me that the new rule is not in effect yet. All homeowners will be given the chance to vote on it via email over the next few weeks. 

Unfortunately, since he's not a homeowner Richard Miller doesn't get a vote, but he has other ways of making his voice heard.

"Until it's official that I can't do this, I'm going to smoke until my lungs fail," Miller said. 

If the ban is passed and smokers violate it, the condo association president said they could be fined.

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