HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft Municipal Ordinance (Option 2)
ORDINANCE NO. 1571
(Option 2)
BEING AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 1490, CITY CODE OF 2005 RELATING
TO THE USE OF SMOKE SHOPS WITHIN THE CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
Section 1:
The City of Columbia Heights does ordain:
Chapter 5, Article III, Section 5.302 of the Columbia Heights City Code, is proposed to include the
following additions and deletions:
§ 5.302 DEFINITIONS.
Except as may otherwise be provided or clearly implied by context, all terms shall be given their
commonly accepted definitions. For the purpose of this article, the following definitions shall apply
unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
COMPLIANCE CHECKS.
The system the city uses to investigate and ensure that those
authorized to sell tobacco, tobacco products, and tobacco related devices are following and complying
with the requirements of this article. Compliance checks shall involve the use of minors as authorized
by this article. Compliance checks shall also mean the use of minors who attempt to purchase tobacco,
tobacco products, or tobacco related devices for educational, research and training purposes as
authorized by state and federal laws. Compliance checks may also be conducted by other units of
government for the purpose of enforcing appropriate federal, state or local laws and regulations relating
to tobacco, tobacco products, and tobacco related devices.
INDIVIDUALLY PACKAGED.
The practice of selling any tobacco or tobacco product
wrapped individually for sale. Individually wrapped tobacco and tobacco products shall include but not
be limited to single cigarette packs, single bags or cans of loose tobacco in any form, and single cans or
other packaging of snuff or chewing tobacco. Cartons or other packaging containing more than a single
pack or other container as described in this definition shall not be considered individually packaged.
LOOSIES.
The common term used to refer to a single or individually packaged cigarette.
MINOR.
Any natural person who has not yet reached the age of 18 years.
MOVEABLE PLACE OF BUSINESS.
Any form of business operated out of a truck, van,
automobile or other type of vehicle or transportable shelter and not a fixed address store front or other
permanent type of structure authorized for sales transactions.
RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT.
Any place of business where tobacco, tobacco products or
tobacco related devices are available for sale to the general public. The phrase shall include but not be
limited to grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants.
SALE.
Any transfer of goods for money, trade, barter or other consideration.
SAMPLING, TOBACCO.The lighting, inhalation, or combination thereof of tobacco,
tobacco paraphernalia, or tobacco-related products for the purpose of testing a tobacco product
prior to the sale of such product. Tobacco sampling shall be limited to a designated area within a
smoke shop of no greater than 100 square feet in area, and no more than two (2) customers or
potential customers shall engage in sampling at any given time.
SELF-SERVICE MERCHANDISING.
Open displays of tobacco, tobacco products or tobacco
related devices in any manner where any person shall have access to the tobacco, tobacco products, or
tobacco related devices, without the assistance or intervention of the licensee or the licensee's
employee. The assistance or intervention shall entail the actual physical exchange of the tobacco,
tobacco product, or tobacco related device between the customer and the licensee or employee. The
phrase shall not include vending machines. Self-service sales are interpreted as being any sale where
there is not an actual physical exchange of the tobacco between the clerk and the customer.
SMOKE SHOP. A retail establishment that has obtained an appropriate license, in which
greater that ninety percent (90%) of the business’s gross revenue must be from the sale of tobacco,
tobacco products or smoking related accessories.
TOBACCOTOBACCO PRODUCTS.
or Any substance or item containing tobacco leaf,
including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, fine cut or other chewing tobacco,
cheroots, stogies, perique, granulated, plug cut, crimp cut, ready-rubbed, and other smoking tobacco,
snuff flowers, cavendish, shorts, plug and twist tobaccos, dipping tobaccos, refuse scraps, clippings,
cuttings, and sweepings of tobacco, and other kinds and forms of tobacco leaf prepared in such manner
as to be suitable for chewing, sniffing or smoking.
TOBACCO RELATED DEVICES.
Any tobacco product as well as a pipe, rolling papers or
other device intentionally designed or intended to be used in a manner which enables the chewing,
sniffing or smoking of tobacco or tobacco products.
VENDING MACHINE.
Any mechanical, electric or electronic, or other type of device which
dispenses tobacco, tobacco products or tobacco related devices upon the insertion of money, tokens or
other form of payment directly into the machine by the person seeking to purchase the tobacco, tobacco
product or tobacco related device.
(Ord. 1371, passed 5-11-98)
Chapter 5, Article III, Section 5.303 of the Columbia Heights City Code, is proposed to include the
following additions and deletions:
§ 5.303 LICENSE.
(A)License required. No person shall sell or offer to sell any tobacco, tobacco products, or
tobacco related device without first having obtained a license to do so from the city.
(B)Smoke Shop License. No person shall operate a smoke shop without first having
obtained a Smoke Shop License to do so from the city. At any given time, there shall be no more
than five (5) Smoke Shops, all with appropriate licenses, throughout the city. Currently existing
smoke shop establishments should be granted the first preference to renew their smoke shop
license if they choose to do so.
(C)
(B) Applicatio n. An application for a license to sell tobacco, tobacco products, or tobacco
related devices shall be made on a form provided by the city. The application shall contain the full name
of the applicant, the applicant's residential and business addresses and telephone numbers, the name of
the business for which the license is sought, and any additional information the city deems necessary.
Upon receipt of a completed application, the Clerk shall forward the application to the Police
Department for a background and record check prior to formal review by the City Council. If the Clerk
shall determine that an application is incomplete, he shall return the application to the applicant with
notice of the information necessary to make the application complete.
(D)
(C)Action. The City Council may either approve or deny the license, or it may delay action
for such reasonable period of time as necessary to complete any investigation of the application or the
applicant it deems necessary. If the City Council shall approve the license, the Clerk shall issue the
license to the applicant. If the City Council denies the license, notice of the denial shall be given to the
applicant along with notice of the applicant's right to appeal the City Council's decision.
(E)
(D) Term. All licenses issued under this article shall follow the calendar year with an
expiration date of December 31 of each year and are not pro-rated.
(F)
(E) Revocation or suspension. Any license issued under this article may be revoked or
suspended as provided in § 5.313.
(G)
(F) Transfers. All licenses issued under this article shall be valid only on the premises for
which the license was issued and only for the person to whom the license was issued. Change of
location or applicant will be required to be treated as a new applicant
(H)
(G) Moveable place of business. No license shall be issued to a moveable place of
business. Only fixed location businesses shall be eligible to be licensed under this article.
(I)
(H) Display. All licenses shall be posted and displayed in plain view of the general public on
the licensed premise.
(J)
(I) Renewals. The renewal of a license issued under this section shall be handled in the same
manner as the original application. The request for a renewal shall be made at least 30 days but no more
than 60 days before the expiration of the current license.
(K)
(J) Issuance as privilege and not a right. The issuance of a license issued under this article
shall be considered a privilege and not an absolute right of the applicant and shall not entitle the holder
to an automatic renewal of the license.
(Ord. 1371, passed 5-11-98) Penalty, see § 5.313
Chapter 5, Article III, Section 5.309 of the Columbia Heights City Code, is proposed to include the
following additions and deletions:
§ 5.309 LICENSE HOLDER RESPONSIBILITY.
(A)
It shall be the license holder's responsibility to provide training to any employee
conducting tobacco sales and/or sales of tobacco related products and devices and to document proof of
such training to be provided upon request by any enforcing agent of the city.
(B)The smoke shop license holder shall be required to provide to the city a certified
audit ensuring that greater than ninety percent (90%) of the business’s gross revenue is derived
from the sale of tobacco, tobacco products or smoking relating accessories. The sale of samples
shall not count towards the 90% criteria.
(Ord. 1371, passed 5-11-98) Penalty, see § 5.313
Section 2:
This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after 30 days after its passage.
First Reading: September 14, 2009
Second Reading: September 28, 2009
Date of Passage:
Offered by:
Seconded by:
Roll Call:
_______
Mayor Gary L. Peterson
Attest:
_______
Patricia Muscovitz, CMC
City Clerk/Council Secretary to the