by Garth Meyer
The Redondo Beach City Council zeroed in on a smoke shop ordinance Aug. 19, while a moratorium to keep the present total at 16 remains in effect until next June.
Community development director Marc Wiener said the city has added seven smoke shops since 2019, and he noted a record of compliance issues, including illegal sales of flavored tobacco and cannabis.
Wiener explained that the draft of the smoke shop ordinance allows a maximum of five shops citywide, though 10 would be authorized at first. The number would be reduced by attrition.
Each of the final five shops would need to receive a conditional-use permit from the city within five years.
Restrictions would include buffer zones around Redondo Beach schools, youth centers and parks; and a design review. The permits would need to be renewed every three years.
Before the city council’s moratorium – passed May 6 and extended in June – a smoke shop could be approved to open “by right.” No permit was required.
The draft ordinance includes buffer zones within 600 feet of a school, a daycare or a youth center; and shops need to be at least 1,000 feet from each other. Also, on July 17, the planning commission limited hours of operation to 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The city council last week discussed as well the need to define what a smoke shop is.
“It’s not the intent to make every gas station, every convenience store a smoke shop,” said Councilman Chadwick Castle.
“Stores whose primary product is tobacco and nicotine are the focus,” said Councilman Scott Behrendt.
Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic counted 44 tobacco-selling permits in Redondo Beach, as of 2019.
“I do want to tighten this up,” she said. “I want to reduce the number of places you can buy tobacco in our city.”
She said she also wanted to avoid a “smoke shop and a snack shop.”
“We can bring this back in September,” City Manager Mike Witzansky said. “The sooner the ordinance is approved, the sooner we can start the attrition process.”
Wiener reported that interest has grown for opening shops here while the council has pursued the ordinance to limit them.
Witzansky “strongly” suggested the council not include the planning commission’s 150 feet-from-residential rule, saying that 100% of the smoke shops would be in violation. Wiener displayed a chart showing that 56% of current smoke shops violate the rule to be farther than 600 feet from a school, and 81% are guilty of being within 1,000 feet from other smoke shops.
“We want to make sure we create a fair and equitable standard,” said Witzansky.
Redondo Beach Police Capt. Michael Martinez reported that RBPD code enforcement officers only inspect what is on the shelves for sale at smoke shops; they do not go into backrooms.
“We can talk to the city attorney’s office and see if we can go further,” Martinez said. “There’s no clear definition of what we can inspect.”
A discussion is underway within RBPD, he said, to send undercover officers into the shops to see if they are able to buy illegal items.
Tom Bakaly, Beach Cities Health District CEO, told the city council Aug. 19 that 5% of Redondo Beach adults smoke, half of the national average of 10 percent.
A representative of the Redondo Beach Council of PTA said its members voted to support the ordinance.
Councilmember Kaluderovic pointed out that the final document will be malleable.
“I would prefer we be more aggressive, because it is an ordinance; we can amend it,” she said.
In March of this year, RBPD code enforcement worked with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), to inspect multiple local smoke shops, and seized flavored tobacco, nicotine and marijuana.
In April, RBPD code enforcement inspected 15 smoke shops. It ordered one Artesia Boulevard to close, and issued correction notices to the others. Targeted inspections of three locations were done in July.
The city planning commission has given direction to the police to enforce the new ordinance with fines and requirements. ER
