South City officially updated its tobacco retail ordinance, more closely aligning it with the county’s policy, which bans hookah operations and imposes stronger distancing requirements for tobacco sellers.
The city banned flavored tobacco back in 2019 but, over the last several years, new state laws imposed stricter regulations on tobacco, with flavored tobacco and e-cigarette bans expanding statewide with the implementation of Senate Bill 793 a couple years ago. The county also adopted its own tobacco ordinance in 2023, which is stricter than state law and has encouraged many jurisdictions to align their ordinances with the county’s for logical ease, especially as the county’s Division of Environmental Health Services has largely been responsible for enforcement.
“They really encouraged cities to adopt this so there is a more streamlined approach to enforcement and administration of the retailer program,” Deputy City Manager Christina Fernandez said.
During a meeting May 14, the City Council unanimously approved amending its tobacco retailer ordinance to mirror the county’s. The new policy prohibits issuing new tobacco permits for any operation within 1,000 feet of a “youth-populated area” and within 500 feet of another tobacco retailer. It also prohibits sale of synthetic nicotine, non-nicotine electronic smoking devices and hookah operations.
“The city has been very progressive in terms of smoking ordinances, and we originally had a ban on flavored tobacco, and this is the next step,” Councilmember Mark Nagales said.
South City, which has about 45 tobacco retailers, has one business that would be exempt from some of the provisions in the new ordinance, such as the distance requirements, though it still has to cease selling any prohibited products.
“Society did so much work to get kids and young people off of cigarettes, and here is flavored tobacco undoing a lot of that progress. It’s a real shame, and I’m happy to move forward with this,” Councilmember James Coleman said of South City’s updated policy.
As cities grapple with adopting the county’s ordinance over the past year, it’s thrown into question the fate of hookah businesses, as the county policy prohibits their operations. The fate of Paradise Hookah Lounge in San Bruno has been in jeopardy since its City Council decided to adopt the county ordinance. Other cities, like Burlingame, have chosen to proceed with a local ordinance that allowed for hookah use.
San Bruno city officials attempted to get a Board of Supervisors amendment to the ordinance that would allow existing hookah shops that had maintained all required licensing to continue selling the product. However, the hookah lounge did not have its required state license, disqualifying it from the amendment.
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