The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2.E. Ordinance Relating to Smoking41ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY COUNCIL City Council Work Session: May 15, 2013 AGENDA ITEM: Ordinance Relating to Smoking: Adding AGENDA SECTION: New Section 3 -9 -1 to the Rosemount City Consent Code PREPARED BY: Amy Domeier, City Clerk AGENDA NO. 2.. ATTACHMENTS: Draft Ordinance APPROVED BY: RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discussion only ISSUE Staff is recommending the addition of a new section to the City Code related to smoking. The amendment to the City Code will prohibit the inhaling or exhaling of smoke from any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, or any other lighted tobacco or plant product in a "tobacco product shop" as defined in Minn. Stat. § 144.4167, subd. 4 below: Sections 144.414 to 144.417 do not prohibit the lighting of tobacco in a tobacco products shop by a customer or potential customer for the specific purpose of sampling tobacco products. For the purposes of this subdivision, a tobacco products shop is a retail establishment with an entrance door opening directly to the outside that derives more than 90 percent of its gross revenue from the sale of loose tobacco, plants, or herbs and cigars, cigarettes, pipes, and other smoking devices for burning tobacco and related smoking accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely incidental. "Tobacco products shop" does not include a tobacco department or section of any individual business establishment with any type of liquor, food, or restaurant license. The Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act generally prohibits smoking in public places. There are, however, certain exceptions such as scientific studies, traditional Native American ceremonies, private homes, etc. One of the exceptions is for a tobacco products shop where the law allows the "lighting of tobacco... by a customer or potential customer for the specific purpose of sampling tobacco products." Because the statute does not provide a clear definition of what "sampling" means, hookah lounges operate with patrons smoking throughout the evening as a social event. Cities can adopt more stringent regulations than State law pertaining to secondhand smoke. Several metro area cities including Falcon Heights, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Little Canada, Maplewood, Roseville, St. Anthony, and White Bear Township have adopted ordinances that prohibit the sampling of tobacco in all retail establishments. Staff is asking the City Council to consider the adoption of the draft ordinance, which will prevent such an exception to the Clean Indoor Air Act. The tobacco licensing ordinance in Rosemount was repealed in 1999 and all tobacco licensing is now handled at Dakota County. However, the City can adopt an ordinance prohibiting sampling of tobacco in a tobacco products shop. This would close the loophole in the Clean Air Act and, as a practical matter, prevent hookah lounges within the City limits. CITY OF ROSEMOUNT COUNTY OF DAKOTA STATE OF MINNESOTA ORDINANCE NO. 2013-02 ORDINANCE RELATING TO SMOKING; ADDING NEW SECTION 3 -9 -1 TO THE ROSEMOUNT CITY CODE THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROSEMOUNT ORDAINS as follows: Section 1. The Rosemount City Code is amended by adding new Section 3 -9 -1 as follows: 3 -9 -1: SMOKING: The inhaling or exhaling of smoke from any lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe, or any other lighted tobacco or plant product in a tobacco products shop, as defined in Minn. Stat. § 144.4167, subd. 4, is prohibited. Section 2. This Ordinance shall become effective the day following its passage and publication. Adopted this 7th day of May, 2013, by the City Council of the City of Rosemount, Minnesota. William H. Droste, Mayor ATTEST: Amy Domeier, City Clerk Published in the Rosemount Town Pages the 16th day of May, 2013. 4013141 CLL RS215 -20 StarTribune - Print Page StarTribune Cities snuffing out hookah lounges Article by: KELLY SMITH Star Tribune June 25, 2012 - 4:09 PM Hookah lounges have found themselves increasingly unwelcome in the Twin Cities as more communities try to snuff out the growing Middle Eastern -style smoking. Hookah advocates are fighting back, saying they're victims of discrimination. Last week, Saeed Kiblawi's tobacco license for his Flamezz Hookah Lounge was revoked by St. Anthony city leaders even though he successfully fought the city in court. Justin Jahangiri smoked a hookah pipe at his hookah lounge Shiraz Hookah on Thursday. March 29, 2012, in Minneapolis. "Why is it they don't want us there ?" said Kiblawi, 32, who moved Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune to the Twin Cities from Lebanon 17 years ago. "I honestly can't see any reason but my background." City leaders counter that they tightened the tobacco law for the same reason other cities have: protecting people from the hazards of smoking. "It wouldn't have made any difference who it was," said St. Anthony Mayor Jerry Faust. "We would have still looked at it as a public health issue." Hookahs, which are water pipes for smoking flavored tobacco called shisha, are prominent among Minnesota's Middle Eastern immigrant population and are growing in popularity among young adults. As hookah spreads, other states such as Oregon last year have tightened tobacco laws to restrict it. Minnesota hookah lounges rely on a provision in the 2007 state ban on smoking in bars and restaurants that allows tobacco shops to offer sampling, or smoking inside -- although cities can restrict it. Cities including Minneapolis, Fridley, Roseville and St. Anthony have all done so. Faribault and Shoreview are currently mulling similar sampling bans. "We have a state law that says no smoking. Why is it fair to allow certain businesses to circumvent state law ?" asked Minneapolis City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, who championed the city's ordinance last year. Both the Mayo Clinic and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say hookah poses the same health risks and secondhand smoke dangers as cigarettes, rejecting widespread perceptions that hookah is less harmful. The Minneapolis ordinance prohibits tobacco stores from providing a smoking device for sampling tobacco unless the customer purchased the device. City licensing staff said hookah lounges were taking advantage of the lack of definition for "sampling" in state law to "justify the operation of exclusive smoking nightclubs." Justin Jahangiri said the city ordinance will put him out of business. He opened Shiraz Hookah at Cedar Avenue and Lake Street last June, right before the city passed the ordinance. Since then, he's been fighting the ordinance, saying it's unconstitutional and discriminatory because it leaves cigar shops alone; at his hookah lounge, it's impractical to expect customers to buy a water pipe, which start at $45 a piece, each time. His attorneys filed a civil case against the city with the next court date June 1. Glidden said cigar shops are subject to the same ordinance, and the city didn't outlaw tobacco sampling in its entirety because state law allows it. So "we better define sampling," she said. Jahangiri, 32, an Iranian - American born and raised in California, said the clash with the city shows hookah is misunderstood in the Twin Cities. "It's a cultural tradition," he said. "They have a misconception of what's going on." Last week, more than a dozen African and Middle Eastern men crowded into the dark room of Shiraz Hookah in the middle of the afternoon, shaking hands as they arrived. For many of them, the hookah lounge is their social scene. They reclined on couches surrounded by the sweet smell of apple - flavored tobacco while the sound of bubbling water pipes echoed under soft R &B music. No alcohol or food is served; people are just there to smoke. That's the problem, city leaders say, arguing that cigar shops are primarily retail stores, while hookah lounges make their money from customers puffing on site. In St. Anthony, city leaders banned all tobacco sampling last April. It has led to a year -long battle with Kiblawi's Flamezz Hookah Lounge, where he says he installed a $40,000 ventilation system only to have the city then approve the ban. He was acquitted in mid -March in Hennepin County District Court of charges that he violated the city's new tobacco ordinance. But last week, the City Council unanimously revoked his license. Kiblawi and his lawyer, Eric Braver, are exploring filing a joint discrimination case with advocates of a proposed Islamic center in St. Anthony that had their project delayed, arguing there's "a pattern of long- standing Muslim discrimination," Brever said. http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=145446945 Page 1 of 2 05/06/2013 StarTribune - Print Page Page 2 of 2 Until then, Kiblawi said he's struggling to find a city that will accept his business. "People are not sure what they do," he said of hookah, "so they just say no." Kelly Smith • 612 - 673 -4141 Twitter: @kellystrib 02011 Star Tribune http: / /www.startribune .com/printarticle / ?id= 145446945 05/06/2013