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El Dorado County supervisors ask staff to amend tobacco retail ordinance and pause enforcement for 90 days
Summary
After hours of public comment from county retailers and community groups, the Board of Supervisors directed staff to draft amendments to the recently adopted tobacco retail licensing ordinance and agreed to defer active enforcement and the issuance of new licenses for 90 days while revisions are developed.
El Dorado County supervisors on March 25 directed county staff to revise provisions of the tobacco retail licensing ordinance and to delay active enforcement for a 90‑day period while proposed changes are prepared.
The decision came after more than two hours of public comment from local gas‑station and convenience‑store owners, chambers of commerce representatives and retailers who said the ordinance, adopted in December 2024, had unintended economic impacts. Speakers urged the board to allow license transferability, grandfather pending development applications, change a minimum cigar pack size requirement and reconsider the cap on the number of tobacco retailer licenses tied to county population.
Jeff Warren, director of Environmental Management, summarized key issues staff had heard during outreach: transferability for retailers in good standing, minimum pack size, raising the carding age, minimum pricing, and the limit of one retail license per 2,500 residents. Warren told the board the ordinance’s enforcement was scheduled to start April 1, 2025.
Retailers said the ordinance could devalue businesses and block sales to new owners. Leticia Ramirez, an attorney representing several local retailers, said owners with pending development applications that were deemed complete before a 2024 county moratorium had reasonably relied on tobacco sales as part of business models and asked that those projects be grandfathered.
Other speakers including Debbie Manning of the chamber and owners of multiple ARCO AMPM and Jiffy Mart locations echoed requests for transferable licenses and for the county to exempt family transfers so owners could pass businesses to heirs. Several retailers and employees also asked the county to align local rules with state requirements and to reconsider carding and minimum pack provisions that they said are not practicable (for example, few cigar manufacturers sell 6‑packs).
Supervisor discussion repeatedly returned to two themes: whether the ordinance had unintended consequences and whether enforcement should be delayed while staff drafts targeted amendments. County counsel and department staff explained that the tobacco retail license ordinance and a separate zoning ordinance had slightly different grandfathering provisions; zoning rules apply to applications deemed complete under existing rules, while the licensing ordinance had not explicitly grandfathered projects that were still in the application pipeline.
The board voted to provide conceptual approval to pursue amendments and directed staff to return with proposed changes that could address transferability, minimum pack size, carding policy, minimum pricing, and the population‑based license cap, and to examine separating smoke shops from gas/convenience retailers for licensing purposes. The supervisors also directed staff to consult with economic development about potential fiscal impacts. While applications will continue to be accepted, the board directed that no new permits or licenses be issued during the 90‑day period, and that active enforcement inspections and fines be deferred pending the revision process. The vote approving the staff direction and the 90‑day delay was recorded as passed unanimously.
