Riverside took another step in placing stricter rules on local drug sales after the council voted 4-1 Tuesday to adopt new regulations on smoke shops that could force some to close their doors.
Councilmember Chuck Conder voted against the ordinance, Councilmember Luis Hernandez abstained from the vote and Councilmember Steve Hemenway was absent.
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“History has shown us that communities of color and low-income communities are the communities that are most likely targeted with smoke shops and liquor stores,” Councilmember Sean Mill, who championed the new rules, said during the July 14 public meeting. “We have an opportunity to do something to protect the health of communities that are preyed upon.”
The newly adopted regulations require smoke shops to be at least 1,000 feet from sensitive receptors like schools, parks, daycares and churches. They also require smoke shops to be at least 1,000 feet from another tobacco retailer. Shops will also need to adhere to more stringent security measures like submitting a security plan to the police department and ensuring windows remain clear and unobstructed.
The new rules apply only to businesses whose sales of tobacco-derived products make up more than 30% of gross sales and/or take up more than 30% of the store’s usable space, according to a notification letter sent to business owners.
Shops not in compliance have two years to relocate or stop operations. If a business needs more time to comply due to financial constraints, the owner can request an extension of up to one year. Extensions will be granted at the city manager’s discretion, though businesses have the option to appeal the city manager’s decision to the city council.
Councilmembers Clarissa Cervantes and Hernandez felt the two-year window could make it difficult for small business owners to either transition to a new business model or find a new location. They instead pushed the council to adopt a three-year window without the possibility of an extension, but the effort ultimately failed.
“If at some point, during that transition, their gross sales drop below 30% related to tobacco products, they’re no longer considered a tobacco retail establishment per the code,” Matthew Taylor, the city’s principal planner, told the council in response to those concerns.
Up to 39 smoke shops could be subject to closure or relocation according to the staff report, with more than half located near a sensitive receptor. When two tobacco retailers are less than 1,000 feet away from each other, but comply with the other rules, a situation that applies to about 17 shops, the storefront that has been at its location longer would be allowed to stay.
Impacted owners can consult with city staff regarding relocation, the staff report added, or work with health-focused organization Blue Zones Project Riverside — a staunch advocate of the stricter regulations — to transition to an alternative business model that wouldn’t be subject to the rules.
The decision came almost a year after the council temporarily paused the approval of new tobacco permits so the city could review its policies and guidelines. That moratorium and its extension, championed by Councilmembers Philip Falcone and Mill, was put in place after an eight-month Riverside Police Department investigation found 13 shops were illegally selling cannabis, nitrous oxide tanks and psilocybin mushrooms.
“In the case of Ward 1, we don’t see smoke shops [and] tobacco shops as positive economic development,” Falcone said. “I will take an empty storefront over having a problem property that not only harms the health of our residents that we are elected to advocate for and to protect, but also is really bad for property values [and] bad for the way in which our neighborhoods and our commercial areas look.”
The city council, in recent months, has also banned the sale of kratom-based products within city limits and a vast majority of nitrous oxide sales. Last year, the council also voted to lower the maximum number of permitted cannabis dispensaries from 14 to seven after Mill raised concerns that many of the permit applications were located in Wards 5 and 6.
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