Agenda Packets - 2011/11/14 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Item No: 07B Meeting Date: Nov 16, 2011 Type of Business: Council Business City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing, First Reading and Introduction of Ordinance 865, an Ordinance Regulating the Possession, Sale and Consumption of Tobacco and Tobacco Related Devices and Products within the City of Mounds View Introduction: On May 9th of this year, the City Council adopted Interim Ordinance 859 establishing a temporary moratorium on new tobacco products licenses and zoning approval for a period not to exceed 12 months to give the City sufficient time to review the current laws, model ordinance language, zoning issues and licensing matters. Since that time, staff has been working with representatives from the Ramsey Tobacco Coalition to review model language they prepared with the League of Minnesota Cities and the Public Health Law Center for purposes of incorporating the same or similar language into the City’s code. At the October work session, the City Council reviewed a draft ordinance prepared by Kennedy & Graven based in large part on the model ordinance created by the League of Minnesota Cities, the Ramsey Tobacco Coalition and the Public Health law Center. The only revisions proposed at that meeting were to expand the sampling allowance to include all tobacco shops, present and future, as long as sampling was limited to cigars, and, to establish an hours of operation for tobacco businesses. These changes have been incorporated into the attached ordinance. Discussion: While many businesses sell tobacco products as part of their retail operation, only two businesses in the City are licensed solely for tobacco sales—Vino and Stogies and Tobacco View. Staff sent letters to both business owners and requested an opportunity to meet and discuss their operations. While Tobacco View has not responded to any correspondence, I was able to meet with Greg Waste of Vino and Stogies. As reported on October 3, 2011, Mr. Waste indicated that the sampling of cigars was integral to his operation and retaining such an allowance would be critical to the success of his business, as many customers will not purchase quantities of product without sampling first. Staff had asked the Ramsey Tobacco Coalition for potential language to allow Vino and Stogies to continue sampling while prohibiting all others, present and future, from doing so. (To our knowledge, the only other affected business, Tobacco View, does not permit sampling of product within their premises.) Subsequently, the Council directed that the sampling provision should apply to all tobacco shops, present and future, subject to all limitations expressed in the ordinance. The ordinance presently reflects this expanded allowance. The Council also suggested that there should be an hours of operation provisions added to the licensing requirements, which can now be found in Section 512.06, under “Prohibited Sales” on Page 7.