SOLANA BEACH -- It's time for public smokers in Solana Beach to snuff out their last cigarettes.

The city's ban on smoking in its parks and along its 1.4 miles of public beaches goes into effect today, the first such ordinance at a beach in California.

Offenders will face fines of up to $100, although city officials say the initial focus will be on educating the public about the ban and the health and environmental effects of smoking, not issuing citations.

"It's the responsibility of the city to protect the health and safety of its residents," said Assistant City Manager Matt Rodriguez.

Next month, the city will install 10 signs at entrance points to the city's beaches and at La Colonia Community Park warning would-be smokers not to light up. The $500 cost of the signs will be paid for entirely with San Diego County funds drawn from the state's cigarette-tax revenue.

City administrators and local health officials are praising the ban, saying it will significantly reduce the health and environmental hazards posed by smoking.

"It's twofold," said Rodriguez. "Hopefully this ordinance will be very practical for reducing cigarette butts on the beaches and help to curtail the effects of secondhand smoke."

Rodriguez said volunteers collected some 230 pounds of rubbish at September's beach cleanup project, 40 percent of which was wet cigarette butts.

Debra Kelly, the vice president of government relations for the San Diego and Imperial Counties chapter of the American Lung Association, said secondhand smoke was not the only issue surrounding smoking in public. Public smoking also results in toxic rubbish (the used butts) and fire hazards, and sets a poor example for young children, she said.

"The best way to eliminate all of these problems is to essentially eliminate all of the smoking," said Kelly.

The ordinance is an expansion of an existing ban on smoking in enclosed public areas such as hallways and banks. Smoking is still permitted along public rights of way, such as sidewalks.

The city's decision last month to prohibit smoking at its beaches made Solana Beach the first California city to do so, and garnered attention in the national press.

Honolulu has banned smoking at Hanauma Bay, and New Jersey has some public beaches with smoke-free zones.

Representatives of the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Chicago have all contacted Solana Beach in the past month to ask about the ban as they research their own similar measures, said Rodriguez.

Despite much public support, it remains to be seen how beach-going smokers and civil libertarians will react to the new law, although Rodriguez noted "there's always going to be critics."

Many of those people out walking at Fletcher's Cove on Thursday did not know the ban was going into effect, although few said they were smokers.

But one beachgoer, out on her lunch break to enjoy a smoke at the base of the bluffs, said the new ban was just plain wrong.

"I don't understand why," said the woman, who declined to give her name, adding that she didn't believe the city's real motivation was simply in curbing litter along the shores.

"If that were the case, you'd think they would ban picnicking," she said. "People litter with all sorts of stuff."

Others strolling along the beach seemed to agree.

"It's a moral issue," said John Popovich, an inventor -- and nonsmoker -- from Leucadia who walks along the shore near his Solana Beach offices each day. "I can't believe it's a health issue."

Popovich said he collects shells along his walk and rarely, if ever, finds cigarette butts stuffed in the sand.

But many in the community agreed with the ordinance, and saw Solana Beach as a maverick on the edge of public smoking regulations.

"We're proud to be the first community, maybe in the U.S., to ban smoking in a public area," said Darrell Snook, 57, of Solana Beach.

Snook and his wife, Dorothy, noted, however, that cigarette smoking was not such a pressing issue for beachgoers in Solana Beach.

"It's not too bad," said Snook, when asked about general conditions along the beach. "We're a pretty healthy community to begin with."

Contact staff writer David Fried at (760) 943-2313 or dfried@nctimes.com.