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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSmoke Shop Memo City of Columbia Heights Memo To: Working File From: Jeff Sargent, City Planner Date: 4/17/2017 Re: Smoke Shop Moratorium The purpose of amending the City Zoning Code as it relates to Smoke Shop uses is to help ensure compliance with and to help uphold the intent of the Minnesota State Statutes that regulate the Freedom to Breathe Act. With this in mind, this memo serves as a recommendation for changes to the City Code. 1. Add a definition of “Smoke Shop”. . A retail establishment in which greater than 90 percent of the shop’s SMOKE SHOP gross revenueis from the sale of tobacco, tobacco products or smoking related accessories. 2. Require a minimum distance between smoke shops of 1,500 feet. This would ensure that a dense concentration of smoke shops would not prevail, which adds to the character of the commercial corridor by encouraging a variety of commercial activity. It would also provide for adequate distance between uses that do not promote a healthy and safe lifestyle for the general public. 3. Regulate “sampling” activities within the stores. At this point, the City has several options for regulating the sampling of tobacco products in the store that would promote the intent of the Freedom to Breathe Act (FBA). The intent of the FBA is to allow patrons the opportunity to sample a tobacco product prior to the sale of the product, in order to ensure customer satisfaction. The intent of the FBA is not to allow smoking lounges to persist under the pretense that patrons are “sampling” products in a social environment for long time durations. Some of the options are as follows: a. Disallow sampling completely. By disallowing sampling entirely, the City would be ensured that the intent of the FBA is adhered to. This option would be the easiest to police, as it would be easy to spot a patron smoking in the store. 1 b. Require ventilation air exchange rates that are consistent with the International Mechanical Code requirements for smoking lounges. The International Mechanical Code requires an air exchange of 60 cubic feet per minute per person, based on the occupancy load of the store. According to Larry Pepin, this would require a significant amount of energy needed to exchange and heat the air for such establishments. Larry also estimated that the cost of installing the air exchange system to be roughly $15,000-20,000 based on the size of the space and whether a retrofit would be required. This option would make it extremely difficult for smoke shops to allow for their patrons to sample the products, due to the high operation and maintenance costs. However, if an establishment wishes to pursue this option, the high air exchange rate would help reduce the negative impact of second-hand smoke to the public. c. Require ventilation air exchange rates that are consistent with the International Mechanical Code requirements for mercantile spaces, while requiring the occupant load to decrease to meet smoking lounge requirements if smoking is allowed in the store. In effect, this option allows for smoke shops to have the same (normal) ventilation system as any other type of mercantile space, without the heavy expense of an air exchange system that would meet smoking lounge requirements. This also gives the smoke shop an option as to whether they would allow smoking in the store to sample the product. If smoke shops permit sampling, this option would require them to meet the smoking lounge requirement for the maximum occupancy load. In an example using a 1,000 square foot store space, the occupancy load for sampling-permitted smoke shops would be 5 people, including employees. This option would allow sampling of tobacco products with relative ease, as smoke shops would not need a high-energy air return system. It would also be relatively easy to police, as the Code would require a visible posting inside the building of the maximum occupancy load. This option would also help limit the number of people who could sample the tobacco at any given time, as the occupancy load requirements would make it difficult for a large social gathering to persist. My recommendation would be to use Option C. With this option, the smoke shop would have to disclose whether they would permit sampling in the store. If they chose to do so, the City could require a Maximum Occupant sign to be posted in the store, based on occupancy loads. If they City were to receive a complaint regarding the number of patrons in the store, the enforcement would be relatively easy. I would also recommend a separate license for smoke shops in order to differentiate the smoke shop use from a retail establishment that also sells tobacco products. The details of the licensing procedure would be worked out by Shelley and Scott Clark.  Page 2