No new smoke shops and tobacco lounges are allowed to open in Newport Beach for the next month-and-a-half after the City Council passed a temporary ban aimed at what city officials have called an “immediate threat” to public health, safety and welfare.
Concerned about flavored tobacco use by minors and illegal drugs sold at smoke shops, the council on Tuesday enacted the 45-day moratorium to give them time to consider tougher regulations on such businesses.
City planner Oscar Orozco told councilmembers the Newport Beach Police Department has received 15 complaints about smoke shops in the past two years. He also noted that officers have executed search warrants on two businesses that resulted in the discovery of illegal drug sales.
In June, police seized 454 pounds of cannabis, psilocybin and nitrous oxide at Tobacco and Accessors in Corona Del Mar.
“The police department has noticed a 720% increase in arrests [involving nitrous oxide] from 2020 to 2024,” Orozco said. “They project that by the end of this year there will be, approximately, a total of 50 arrests.”
By comparison, Newport Beach police made five nitrous oxide-related arrests in 2020.
According to a staff report, 41 businesses in the city are licensed to sell tobacco. The businesses range from large grocery stores to convenience stores to smoke shops that primarily sell tobacco and related products.
How many of the 41 businesses are smoke shops was unspecified.
At the Sept. 9 council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Lauren Kleiman requested an initiation to zoning code and local coastal program changes with smoke shops in mind.
City staff continues to study a slew of potential regulations to tighten up, including land use permits to sell tobacco and setting limits on hours of operations for smoke shops.
Any changes to local coastal programs would need the approval of the California Coastal Commission.
In the meantime, city staff recommended council pass an emergency temporary ban, which could be extended, if need be.
Other cities in Orange County have taken action recently to clamp down on smoke shops. La Habra passed its own 45-day moratorium on smoke shops last month and voted on Sept. 15 to extend the ban.
Newport Beach’s own proposal did not face any opposition from council.
Councilmember Robyn Grant wanted the city to explore more than just a moratorium and look into restrictions on where smoking is allowed beyond public park and beach bans.
“It kind of goes hand-in-hand,” she said. “It might be appropriate at this time — since we’re looking at where we’re selling it — that we also look at where we’re using it.”
Newport Beach resident Jim Mosher, a regular at council meetings, cited concerns that the moratorium would net more businesses than just smoke shops, given the lack of clear definitions in city code.
“It’s a very sweeping moratorium that seems to deal with a lot more things than smoke shops,” he told the City Council.
Defined terms are something the city is looking to clean up in its codes during the moratorium.
Kleiman brought the discussion back to complaints about smoke shops from community members.
“I receive a lot of emails from parents whose teens are using vapes or other paraphernalia that’s been sold to them by these smoke shops who are targeting and profiting off of our youth,” she said. “District 6, obviously we just heard, has certainly had our share of issues with these bad operators. But I don’t think the problems are limited to that district or even to Newport Beach.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Councilmember Noah Blom moved to pass the moratorium, which required a supermajority vote. All seven councilmembers voted to approve the temporary ban.