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La Habra council directs staff to pursue amendments and temporary moratorium on smoke shops
Summary
Citing a sharp recent increase in specialized tobacco retailers, La Habra councilmembers on Aug. 4 voted unanimously to direct staff to prepare municipal‑code amendments and an urgency ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on new smoke shops in the city.
La Habra — Citing a rise in retail outlets that list tobacco as a primary product, the La Habra City Council on Aug. 4 directed staff to draft amendments to the municipal code and an urgency ordinance to establish a temporary moratorium on new smoke shops. The motion passed unanimously.
Susan Kim, the city’s director of community and economic development, told the council the municipal code does not currently define “smoke shop” as a land‑use category; instead the code regulates tobacco sales generally and defers location rules to the zoning code. Kim said the city has 68 active state tobacco licenses, about 20 of which the city considers smoke shops where tobacco is the main product.
“Between 2008 and 2018 we saw six smoke shops established; in the last five years we’ve…
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