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Committee fast-tracks smoke-shop and window-sign rules; moves enforcement and licensing to health and finance committees
Summary
The committee advanced two emergency ordinances to restrict the location of smoke shops and limit window sign coverage, and discussed a broader package that would create a tobacco retail license, enforcement checklists and a potential cap on the number of smoke shops in the city.
The Development, Planning & Sustainability Committee amended and approved two ordinances aimed at limiting the spread and visibility of smoke shops across Cleveland.
The first ordinance (188-2025) would regulate where smoke shops may locate. The proposed zoning text would define a “smoke shop” (retail establishments where 20% or more of floor/shelf/display area sells defined smoke-related products) and would prevent new smoke shops from opening within a 2-mile radius of one another and within 500 feet of churches, public libraries, playgrounds, parks or schools. City planning presented maps showing concentrations in neighborhoods and staff said permit applications surged after the city signaled it would act.
The second ordinance (189-2025) would limit permanent and temporary window signage to a maximum of 25% of each storefront’s glass frontage and would apply across commercial and industrial districts. Planning staff and public-health officials said the restriction is intended to restore “eyes on the street” for pedestrian safety and to stop storefronts from advertising illicit or misleading products and services.
Public-health and law staff described a coordinated, four-part package that also includes (1) a tobacco retail licensing framework for inspection and enforcement (the licensing ordinance would be heard in finance), (2) amendments to the municipal civil code to increase enforcement penalties, and (3) criminal-code changes for certain illicit sales. The committee voted to convert the signage (189) and smoke-shop (188) ordinances to emergency ordinances to speed implementation; members discussed a moratorium to stop new permit approvals while the ordinances are written and clarified.
Director of Public Health and committee staff said the city has received roughly a hundred smoke-shop permit applications since January; many businesses in the city’s inventory had not previously been categorized as smoke shops. Health staff described an enforcement plan modeled on restaurant inspections, with a tobacco-retail license and a timeline to give operators time to apply and come into compliance. The licensing measure (187-2025) was discussed as the venue where council could set a hard cap on the number of permitted smoke shops.
Committee members emphasized enforcement resources: the health director and staff said six health inspectors would be assigned initially, with the option to add staff if the number of regulated outlets exceeds estimates. Council members urged a moratorium to halt approvals while the rules are finalized; the administration indicated it was considering that step and the law department said it would advise on specifics.
Several council members and the health director said the city’s ability to act quickly was important because of the number of recent applications and the clustering of shops in some neighborhoods. The committee recorded both amended ordinances as approved.
