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Rohnert Park adopts urgency ordinance expanding tobacco definition and extending loitering-of-minors hours
Summary
Council adopted Urgency Ordinance 988 to add modern vaping products to the municipal definition of tobacco and to extend the hours during which loitering by minors may be prohibited; the change responds to youth vaping and afternoon loitering near University Square and parks and passed on a 4-0 roll-call vote with one absence.
On July 22, the Rohnert Park City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance 988, which amends municipal-code chapters 9.72 and 9.76 to add contemporary vaping devices and associated products to the local definition of tobacco products and to expand the hours when loitering by minors may be prohibited.
Public-safety staff told the council that the current code dates to 1997 and does not explicitly reference vape pens, flavored vaping oil and similar products that have emerged since. Lieutenant Eric Matson described recurring afternoon incidents in University Square, Yellow Mini Park and other nearby locations in which groups of students congregate during free periods, sometimes leading to fights, smoking and reports of outside gang recruitment.
Staff said the ordinance provides a tool to address smoke shops and sellers who market tobacco and vape products and to direct officers to address afternoon loitering that can pull resources away from other patrol duties. Presenters and council emphasized outreach: the school district will receive notifications and staff plan coordinated parent and student outreach through district channels such as ParentSquare/PeachJar.
Council members discussed concerns about equitable enforcement and the potential for disproportionate impact; presenters said the intent is to use the ordinance as a last resort to return students to campus or to contact parents rather than to impose routine fines. The council took the item as an urgency ordinance, conducted a roll-call vote and passed it 4-0 with one absent council member.
Why it matters: The ordinance updates decades-old local code language to reflect new tobacco and vaping products and gives public-safety officials additional enforceable authority during school hours when students are repeatedly off campus and creating public-safety or quality-of-life problems.
