La Habra staff seeks multiyear extension of smoke-shop moratorium and ban on new smoke shops

City staff presented an urgency-ordinance package asking the La Habra City Council to extend an existing moratorium on new smoke shops and consider ordinances that would prohibit new smoke shops and regulate all tobacco retailers.

Management analyst Ginger Ivy summarized the recent history: the council adopted an urgency moratorium on Aug. 18, 2025 (initially through Oct. 2, 2025) and later extended it to Aug. 18, 2026; under state law a final 12-month extension is permitted and staff recommended extending the moratorium to Aug. 18, 2027 to allow time to adopt permanent rules. Ivy said the city has seen a “rapid local growth” in smoke shops, noting that “the number of smoke shops jumped from 6 established over a 10‑year span to 14 established in just the last few years,” and that there are about 68 state‑licensed tobacco retailers operating citywide.

The staff packet described three paths: adopt the staff‑recommended ordinance to prohibit new smoke shops; adopt an alternative ordinance creating a permitting system that would require licenses for all tobacco retailers; or adopt both, which would ban new shops, fix the total number at roughly the current count, and require permitting for existing and future retailers. Ivy told council members that “all existing tobacco retailers would be allowed to continue to operate under the proposed ordinance,” and that the moratorium’s purpose is to give the city time to craft a permanent regulatory approach.

The presentation cited CEQA exemptions for the ordinances as described in the staff materials. The council heard clarifying questions about how staff would verify business eligibility and apply grandfathering language; staff said local business‑license records would be useful because state data had been difficult to obtain. The item will return to the council for further action after staff completes the recommended research and cost analyses.