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Council orders staff to draft rules for smoke shops, tighten Riviera Village exemptions for notary/real-estate uses
Summary
Following public complaints and staff reports, the council unanimously directed staff to draft land‑use and permitting changes to regulate smoke shops, consider caps or CUP requirements, and to clarify notary/office allowances in Riviera Village.
The Redondo Beach City Council unanimously directed staff on Jan. 21 to draft municipal code changes and business permitting standards aimed at smoke shops and at limiting the use of notary or ancillary services as a loophole to locate office or real-estate businesses on Riviera Village street-front space.
Staff told the council the city currently treats smoke shops as general retail (permit-by-right) and that 15 such businesses appear to operate within city limits. Planning staff outlined three permit tracks (permit-by-right; conditional use permit or CUP; and administrative use permit or AUP). Staff recommended considering a definition for “smoke shop,” requiring CUPs for the use, creating geographic caps or density limits, and applying buffers from sensitive uses such as schools.
On Riviera Village, staff said recent street-front office uses appeared after property owners paired office activities with notary services; the district’s zoning allows service uses, and that interpretation had allowed street-front real estate offices. Staff recommended clarifying the code to prohibit office/professional businesses from occupying ground-floor street-facing storefronts, or to remove any express allowance for notary services that effectively permits offices.
Public speakers — including Riviera Village business representatives and neighborhood residents — described smells, visible paraphernalia and customer behavior that they said makes retail and dining less attractive. Police and fire staff noted smoke shops generate recurring complaints, enforcement workload and occasional illegal sales investigations.
Council direction: staff should draft code amendments and business permitting options (including a CUP pathway, signage and loitering provisions, buffers from schools, and options for numerical or geographic caps) and return with recommended language. Councilmembers asked staff to explore phasing caps through attrition (no forced closures), potential grandfathering nuances, and enforcement levers such as revocation of CUPs or business licenses for illegal sales.
Why it matters: Council members and residents said unregulated smoke shops have created neighborhood quality-of-life complaints and enforcement burdens; Riviera Village stakeholders asked the city to protect the pedestrian retail character of their district.
What’s next: Staff will return with draft ordinance language and permitting changes for council review, and indicated the earliest formal return would be in March.
