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Updated 07/21/2011 08:04 AM

Area apartments could go tobacco-free

By: John A. Salazar

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It’s already banned at area bars and restaurants, but now smoking may be prohibited at some local apartment complexes.

At a Living Tobacco Free Austin Conference in Downtown Austin Wednesday, attendees weighed the pros and cons of having an entire living complex comply with a no-smoking policy. With the known dangers of cigarette smoke, organizers argued that any smoke-free environment helps folks with their health.

"You'll have other residents who'll live right next to the person who smokes and then they complain about the smoke coming in. And it's just a little more challenging to deal with," Sierra Vista Property Manager Lila Mantia said.

Sierra Vista Property, along with the M Station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is owned by Foundation Communities—a property management company hoping to make the two complexes smoke-free.

"There is tremendous savings on when you get ready to turn a unit to the next tenant, also the health issues are a large part of that," Foundation Communities Property Management Director Sandra Lumley said.

Tobacco-free housing isn't only about improving tenant health, property managers say it will also help increase profits.

With a no-smoking ban in and immediately around apartment dwellings, liability goes down, increasing the safety of residents. For now, property managers are studying the issue, with no final decision to make each of these properties smoke-free.

YNN was unable to speak with any cigarette smokers who currently live at the property expected to be converted to a smoke free building.

If owners of the M station apartments on East MLK decide to make that new affordable housing development a smoke-free complex, it may be the first of its kind in the city of Austin.