One last tobacco store could soon be allowed...
Allan Appel File Photo
...here? As circled in red in map above.
New Haven could soon have room for only one more smoke shop — specifically on one block of industrial Water Street cut off from the rest of the city by I‑95.
That would be the outcome of a zoning amendment restricting the location, hours of operation, and window displays of tobacco sellers in New Haven.
A working group including Alders Richard Furlow, Eli Sabin, and Frank Redente, as well as City Plan, Health Department, and Police Department staff, produced the amendment after months of work. A new municipal licensing system for tobacco sellers, enabling the Health Department to further regulate those retailers, is also in progress.
The Board of Alders Legislation Committee unanimously advanced the zoning amendment Tuesday evening, sending it to the full Board of Alders for a final vote in February.
The amendment, said Sabin, is intending to “protect the health and safety of our residents and the quality of our neighborhoods.”
The new regulations would require new tobacco sellers to be located at least 1,000 feet away from a school, place of worship or public park — as well as 3,000 feet away from existing tobacco retailers.
That likely leaves just a small strip of Water Street in the Mill River neighborhood available for a new tobacco-selling store, according to a map presented by City Plan Director Laura Brown and City Planner Alex Castro on Tuesday night.
The map reflects the distance requirements from parks, schools, and the city’s 169 existing tobacco retailers, Brown said. It doesn’t account for places of worship, which are more likely to change over time.
Existing stores with the state-required license to sell tobacco products would be allowed to remain where they are as “legally non-conforming” businesses. They would, however, relinquish that right if they were to move locations.
On Tuesday, committee alders sought to clarify what, exactly, qualifies as a tobacco business under these regulations.
“There are many cases I can think of with a business that sells tobacco, but that’s not the primary use,” said Westville Alder Adam Marchand. “This will definitely apply to them?”
Yes, confirmed Castro and Brown.
The amendment includes narrower definitions for a “smoke shop” — a place “devoted” to tobacco and smoking paraphernalia — and a “smoking establishment” — places like hookah or cigar bars, where customers are expected to smoke onsite. But the regulations are intended to apply to a broader category of businesses: “tobacco retailers,” which includes any store that sells any kind of tobacco product.
The intention behind this broad category, said Castro, is to prevent businesses from trying to “circumvent” the zoning requirements by classifying themselves as a grocery store, convenience store, or other kind of business.
Marchand said he intends to craft an amendment, to be proposed before the full Board of Alders, making it extra clear that all “tobacco retailers” would be governed by the regulations.
“Madam chair, I’ll just observe that zoning… is fun!” Marchand said. “But it’s tricky.”
Window Displays & Hours At Stake
In addition to the location restrictions, the proposed amendment would also prohibit both new and existing stores from displaying any tobacco products or smoking equipment in a way that is visible from the street level.
“An establishment may choose to simply remove [tobacco products] from the windows and put them in cases facing inwards so they’re not visible from the outside,” said Castro. “They may choose to design the interior space of their business so that there’s no way to see the merchandise until you enter a certain distance in.”
“There may be window coverings as long as they’re compliant with other regulations,” added Brown.
If a zoning enforcement officer were to stand on the sidewalk and “craned their neck and they looked around and they saw something, they could issue a citation? Even if it wasn’t prominent?” asked Marchand.
Yes, responded Brown.
“My concern is if it’s a small store, and you can see all four corners from the window,” asked Furlow. “Would they be able to claim some kind of hardship from not being able to hide from the display?”
He asked for more information about how state law currently regulates such displays, which the City Plan staffers agreed to research.
The amendment also reiterates other zoning rules that prevent stores from covering more than half of their windows with posters or signs or featuring “lights that flash, shimmer, glitter, or lights that give the appearance of flashing, shimmering or glittering.”
Finally, the City Plan staff proposed an amendment that would prevent new tobacco businesses from operating between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., unless they obtain a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals.
“So if a 24-hour convenience store wanted to open and they wanted to sell tobacco…” Furlow trailed off. “They couldn’t?”
“Not as it’s currently written,” said Brown.
Why not allow those businesses to remain open as long as they refrain from selling tobacco between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.? Furlow asked. “That might be more amenable to businesses.”
Brown expressed openness to the idea, but said that the city may not have the power to regulate that via a zoning amendment. “I think we need to explore this a little bit more,” she said. “I want to make sure this is something we can do.”
In the end, the alders decided to advance the amendment with the proposed language from City Plan intact, requiring a special exception for late night and early morning tobacco sellers.
“The thinking was that there’s not gonna be a new gas station in New Haven” — or convenience store or hookah bar or other tobacco-selling establishment in need of late night hours, Furlow explained after the meeting.
Depending, that is, on the future of a single Water Street block.