SMOKING in Garden Grove parks may soon be illegal (Shutterstock).

By Jim Tortolano
Orange County Tribune

A proposed ordinance to ban smoking in public parks – including “vaping” – goes before the Garden Grove City Council when it meets on Tuesday.

The ban would apply to;
• any park, including its parking lots;
• within 50 feet of any park perimeter, but not to any paved public sidewalk at the park’s boundary or people or vehicles traveling along public streets or sidewalks;
• all areas posted as a “no smoking area” by the city posted at or near the primary entrance to a public place where smoking is prohibited.

Violation of the ban would be an infraction of the city municipal code.
The ordnance was first proposed in September 2025 by Councilmember Yesenia Muneton. “The residents of Garden Grove deserve parks with clean air,” she said.

At that time, the council approved directing the city attorney to draw up the ordinance and submit it for approval.

Also on Tuesday, the council will consider a request from the Vietnamese Sport Association of Southern California to waive the rental fee for the use of the activity room of the Courtyard Center in Village Green park for preparation of the annual Flower Street event, a traditional Vietnamese celebration.

The room would be used 13 days (from Feb 4-16) for seven hours a day, The fee waived would be $5,915.

The council will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave.