8.21.060 Limits on eligibility for a tobacco retailer license.
A. Mobile Vending. No license may issue to authorize tobacco retailing at other than a fixed location. No tobacco retail license will be issued to a moveable place of business.
B. Pharmacies. No license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing in a pharmacy.
C. Proximity to Youth-Oriented Area. No new license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing within one thousand feet of a youth-oriented area as measured by a straight line from the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which the youth-oriented area is located to the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which the applicant’s business is located.
D. Proximity to Other Tobacco Retailers. No new license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing within five hundred feet of a tobacco retailer location already licensed pursuant to this chapter as measured by a straight line from the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which the applicant’s business is located.
E. Population and Density. The issuance of tobacco retailer licenses is limited as follows:
1. The total number of tobacco retailer licenses within the city shall be limited to one for each two thousand, or fraction thereof, of inhabitants of the city.
2. For the purposes of this subsection, the total population of the city shall be determined by the most current published total available from the U.S. Census Bureau or the California State Department of Finance, whichever has been more recently updated, as of the date the license application is filed.
3. No new license may be issued to authorize tobacco retailing if the number of tobacco retailer licenses already issued equals or exceeds the total number authorized pursuant to subsection (E)(1) of this section.
F. Notwithstanding subsection C, D, or E of this section, a tobacco retailer operating lawfully on the date this chapter is adopted that would otherwise be eligible for a tobacco retailer license for the location for which a license is sought may receive or renew a license for that location so long as all of the following conditions are met:
1. The license is timely obtained and is renewed without lapse or permanent revocation (as opposed to temporary suspension);
2. The tobacco retailer is not closed for business or otherwise suspends tobacco retailing for more than sixty consecutive days;
3. The tobacco retailer does not substantially change the business premises or business operation. A substantial change to the business operation includes, but is not limited to, the transferring of a location:
a. To a new proprietor(s) in an arm’s length transaction; or
b. For which a significant purpose is avoiding enforcement of violations of this chapter; and
4. The tobacco retailer retains the right to operate under all other applicable laws.
(Ord. 2799 NCS §4, 2021.)