Chapter 5.54
HOOKAH PARLORS
Sections:
5.54.020 Hookah parlor defined.
5.54.030 Number of hookah parlors permitted.
5.54.040 Permissible locations.
5.54.050 Permitted hours of operation.
5.54.060 Other service prohibited.
5.54.080 Intoxicated persons prohibited.
5.54.110 Required ventilation system.
5.54.120 Compliance with state law.
5.54.130 Admission charges prohibited.
5.54.140 Indoor operation only.
5.54.150 Lighting – Visibility.
5.54.160 Occupancy limits – Parking requirement.
5.54.170 Loitering prohibited.
5.54.180 Permit to own or operate a hookah parlor.
5.54.190 Denial of hookah parlor permit application.
5.54.200 Revocation of hookah parlor permit.
5.54.210 Nonconforming location – Amortization.
5.54.010 FINDINGS.
(a) In enacting this chapter the city council hereby adopts the following findings of the World Health Organization pertaining to waterpipe tobacco smoking:
1. Using a waterpipe to smoke tobacco poses a serious potential health hazard to smokers and others exposed to the smoke emitted.
2. Using a waterpipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking.
3. A typical one-hour-long waterpipe smoking session involves inhaling one hundred to two hundred times the volume of smoke inhaled with a single cigarette.
4. Even after it has been passed through water, the smoke produced by a waterpipe contains high levels of toxic compounds, including carbon monoxide, heavy metals and cancer-causing chemicals.
5. Commonly used heat sources that are applied to burn the tobacco, such as wood cinders or charcoal, are likely to increase the health risks because when such fuels are combusted they produce their own toxicants, including high levels of carbon monoxide, metals and cancer-causing chemicals.
6. Pregnant women and fetuses are particularly vulnerable when exposed either actively or involuntarily to the waterpipe smoke toxicants.
7. Secondhand smoke from waterpipes is a mixture of tobacco smoke in addition to smoke from the fuel and therefore poses a serious risk for nonsmokers.
8. There is no proof that any device or accessory can make waterpipe smoking safer.
9. Sharing a waterpipe mouthpiece poses a serious risk of transmission of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis and hepatitis.
10. Waterpipe tobacco is often sweetened and flavored, making it very appealing; the sweet smell and taste of the smoke may explain why some people, particularly young people who otherwise would not use tobacco, begin to use waterpipes.
(b) The city council also hereby finds that:
1. Hookah parlors exacerbate the inherently dangerous behavior of tobacco use around nontobacco users;
2. Hookah parlors diminish the protection of children from exposure to smoking and tobacco, while they increase the potential for minors to associate smoking and tobacco with a healthy lifestyle;
3. Hookah parlors weaken the protection of the public from smoking and tobacco-related pollution;
4. In other California communities where hookah parlors have been allowed to operate, hookah parlors have had adverse secondary effects on surrounding properties, including but not limited to lowering property values and introducing incompatible land uses to existing neighborhoods; and
5. This chapter is therefore necessary in order to serve the public health, safety, and welfare of residents and businesses within the city.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.020 HOOKAH PARLOR DEFINED.
As used in this chapter, the term “hookah parlor” shall refer to any facility or location whose business operation, whether as its primary use or as an ancillary use, is devoted to the on-premises smoking of tobacco or other substances through one or more pipes (commonly known as a hookah, waterpipe, shisha or narghile) designed with a tube passing through an urn of water that cools the smoke as it is drawn through it, including but not limited to establishments known variously as hookah bars, hookah lounges or hookah cafes.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.030 NUMBER OF HOOKAH PARLORS PERMITTED.
A maximum of two hookah parlors shall be allowed to operate in the city.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.040 PERMISSIBLE LOCATIONS.
(a) A hookah parlor may only operate in one of the following city zone districts and hookah parlors shall be prohibited in all other city zone districts: C-C, Community Commercial; IG, General Industrial; and CBD(E), Central Business Subdistrict – Lower Pacific Avenue.
(b) A hookah parlor shall not be permitted to operate within one thousand feet of any public or private pre-school, elementary school, middle school, junior high school or high school.
(c) A hookah parlor shall not be permitted within one thousand feet of any park or recreation facility operated by the city.
(d) A hookah parlor shall not be permitted within one thousand feet of another hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.050 PERMITTED HOURS OF OPERATION.
A hookah parlor shall be permitted to operate seven days a week between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and midnight and shall be prohibited from operating at all other times.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.060 OTHER SERVICE PROHIBITED.
A hookah parlor shall offer only waterpipe tobacco smoking equipment and accommodations and shall be prohibited from offering any other products or services to its customers, including but not limited to food and beverage service.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.070 MINORS PROHIBITED.
Persons under the age of eighteen years shall be prohibited from entering, working at or patronizing hookah parlors and hookah parlor owners and operators shall be prohibited from personally soliciting persons under the age of eighteen years to patronize a hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.080 INTOXICATED PERSONS PROHIBITED.
A hookah parlor owner or operator shall not permit any person obviously under the influence of any intoxicating drug or beverage to enter or patronize a hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.090 REQUIRED LITERATURE.
All hookah parlors shall make literature designated by the county of Santa Cruz environmental health department relating to tobacco use easily available to hookah parlor customers at one or more visible locations in the hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.100 REQUIRED POSTING.
All hookah parlors shall conspicuously post in at least one location visible from outside of the hookah parlor and one location visible within the hookah parlor signs approved by the county of Santa Cruz environmental health department advising that products smoked at the hookah parlor are tobacco products and warning of the potential adverse health consequences attributed to the smoking of the products offered at the hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.110 REQUIRED VENTILATION SYSTEM.
Hookah parlors shall provide adequate ventilation for the smoke and heating of coals in accordance with all requirements imposed by the building and fire departments, or as otherwise required by state or federal law as well as this code. At a minimum, the ventilation system shall also assure that smoke from the hookah parlor is incapable of migrating into any other portion of the building hosting the hookah parlor or into any other building in the vicinity of the hookah parlor.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.120 COMPLIANCE WITH STATE LAW.
Hookah parlors shall be in compliance with all state laws pertaining to smoking in the workplace and places of public accommodation and pertaining to the sale or furnishing of tobacco products to minors including but not limited to California Labor Code Section 6404.5 and California Penal Code Section 308.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.130 ADMISSION CHARGES PROHIBITED.
No admittance fee, cover charge or requirement of any charge or minimum payment as a condition of entry to a hookah parlor shall be permitted.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.140 INDOOR OPERATION ONLY.
All business-related activities of the hookah parlor shall be conducted wholly within the building hosting the hookah parlor. Operation of outdoor barbeques or the lighting of coals outdoors shall not be permitted.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.150 LIGHTING – VISIBILITY.
(a) The interior of the hookah parlor shall be maintained with adequate illumination to make the conduct of patrons within the premises readily discernible to persons with normal visual acuity.
(b) No window coverings shall prevent visibility of the interior of the hookah parlor from outside the premises during operating hours. Any proposed window tint shall be approved in advance by the police department.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.160 OCCUPANCY LIMITS – PARKING REQUIREMENT.
(a) The maximum occupancy level for a hookah parlor shall be established by the fire department.
(b) Parking shall be provided according to the standard of one parking space for every two hundred square feet of hookah parlor floor area.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.170 LOITERING PROHIBITED.
The hookah parlor owner or operator shall prohibit loitering by persons outside the hookah parlor either on the premises or within fifty feet of the premises.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.180 PERMIT TO OWN OR OPERATE A HOOKAH PARLOR.
(a) A person or entity seeking to own or operate a hookah parlor must receive a permit from the city, to be issued and renewed yearly by the chief of police. The chief of police shall review each application, conduct any additional investigation which is deemed reasonable by the chief of police in assessing each application, and maintain a record of any person or entity who has received such a permit.
(b) At a minimum, subject to the amortization provisions of Section 5.54.210, the permit shall condition the hookah parlor’s operation upon compliance with all of the requirements of this chapter. In addition, the permit shall impose additional conditions which in the discretion of the chief of police are necessary to assure compatibility with other land uses in the vicinity or in the same building.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.190 DENIAL OF HOOKAH PARLOR PERMIT APPLICATION.
The chief of police may deny an application for a hookah parlor permit for any of the following reasons:
(a) The applicant has been convicted of a felony.
(b) The applicant is under the age of twenty-one years.
(c) The applicant has made a false statement in the application for a permit.
(d) The application on its face indicates that the proposed hookah parlor cannot be operated in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, including but not limited to the requirement that only two hookah parlors shall be allowed to operate in the city.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.200 REVOCATION OF HOOKAH PARLOR PERMIT.
A hookah parlor permit may be revoked for any of the following reasons:
(a) The owner or operator of the hookah parlor violates any requirement of this chapter.
(b) The owner or operator of the hookah parlor is convicted of a felony.
(c) The hookah parlor is not in compliance with one or more of the conditions of its hookah parlor permit.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).
5.54.210 NONCONFORMING LOCATION – AMORTIZATION.
Any hookah parlor established in the city as of April 30, 2009, at a location other than a location authorized pursuant to Section 5.54.040 shall cease operation at that nonconforming location no later than December 31, 2014. Any hookah parlor established in the city as of December 31, 2008, at a location other than a location authorized pursuant to Section 5.54.040 shall not resume operation at that location if at any time prior to December 31, 2014, the hookah parlor is closed (i.e., not open for business) for twenty-one or more consecutive days. Notwithstanding its nonconforming location, any hookah parlor established in the city as of April 30, 2009, shall conform to all other requirements of this chapter, including but not limited to all of this chapter’s operating and permitting requirements, no later than September 30, 2009.
(Ord. 2009-15 § 1 (part), 2009).