MENLO PARK — The City Council may consider a new smoking ordinance as soon as January that could ban lighting up in apartment and condominium buildings.

At a study session last week, council members agreed that the city's existing 16-year-old ordinance needs updating and should likely include more restrictions on smoking. However, most council members said they are not yet ready to go as far as Belmont, where a law banning smoking in multilevel residential buildings went into effect at the beginning of the year.

"I would like to look at that more," Vice Mayor Richard Cline said at the Oct. 27 study session, referring to a total ban on smoking in such buildings. "I think it requires a heck of a lot more work."

Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson, however, said she is ready to support such prohibitions after hearing researchers and community members speak about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

All five council members appeared to be leaning toward barring smoking in most common areas at housing complexes, but some still want more information on enforcement in semiprivate areas, such as patios and balconies.

Setting a distance for how close residents can be to nonsmoking areas when they smoke remained up in the air.

Other cities have passed ordinances requiring smokers to be 20 to 30 feet from those areas, city employees said.

"Our sidewalks are not 20- or 25-feet wide," Cline said.

"Smokers get to be in the bus

Menlo Park's current law bars smoking in most enclosed public spaces, child care centers, unenclosed eating areas and offices. State laws go further, however, prohibiting smoking in restaurants and bars.

City Attorney William McClure said his staff would work on the proposed ordinance and likely bring it back to the council in early 2010.