Smoke Shop Zoning Regs En Route

The long-awaited ordinance-in-progress will treat smoke shops similarly to liquor stores with requirements like they not be located near schools and churches or too close to each other.

But there will also likely be a lot more detail.

For example the garish flashing lights in windows and brash dancing bongs designed to catch the interest of young people may also be seriously curtailed, if not forbidden.

Those general contours of a future city ordinance regulating smoke shops emerged Wednesday night at the regular meeting of the Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB) community management team meeting.

There, Westville/Amity Alder and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow, one of the crafters of the proposed law, offered a preview of the regulations to two dozen receptive neighbors convened at 333 Sherman Avenue, the headquarters of Neighborhood Housing Services.

The draft ordinance — which he and Downtown Alder Eli Sabin and lead writer Fair Haven’s Frank Redente, Jr., are now finalizing — should be ready by Friday, Furlow said.

The draft will be presented Monday as a communication to the Board of Alders, then assigned to a committee, likely the Legislation Committee. Because all amendments to the zoning code require a public hearing, that will be scheduled ASAP, Furlow added. Likely in the first half of November.

“I think we did things backwards,” Furlow said. ​“We voted for cannabis first, and we didn’t think of the stores who sell the paraphernalia.”

The proliferation of unregulated smoke shops is not only a New Haven problem; it’s statewide. 

Furlow cited recent strong regulations passed in Stamford; also Milford’s regulation banning the establishment of any smoke shops in the future; and in Westport, he said, there’s now a complete ban.

“We’re not going to be that aggressive. But you will be happy,” he added, with what’s in the near future.

“We’ll follow the same ideas as with liquor stores. Not near churches or schools and two or three thousand feet from each other.”

While making a point of saying the legislation’s aim is not to discourage economic development, Furlow added, it will have language to help discourage advertising of smoke shop products especially to minors.

“There are stores that are targeting children and that is a chief concern. That will not be allowed and we also want to quench smoke shops who sell cannabis.”

When the public hearing date is announced, Furlow urged people to come out and to testify — either for or against — at the aldermanic chamber where he said he expects vigorous debate on the language.

In part that’s because he anticipates smoke shop owners to advocate against restrictions and also because Furlow said he has even spoken with some city officials who have told him there is no evidence of deleterious effects of smoke shops on the community.

“We don’t need more data,” he said. ​“We are the data.”

One neighbor confirmed that during the robust Q and A following his presentation, reporting ​“smoke shops have become hang out spots.”

Furlow replied that’s because the smoke shop is a business category that simply does not exist in the current zoning code.

“That’s the hitch. Right now they can do whatever they want.”

The city was able to exercise some control over the smoke shop at 841 Whalley Ave. in Westville, he said, by citing a violation of convenience store use.

However, as of now, a smoke shop use there was permitted as of right, according to Deputy Director of Zoning Nate Hougrand.

Without specific smoke shop regulations, the city has been hamstrung and receiving lots of complaints from neighbors and thus the new ordinance in the making.

Furlow said that even gas stations now are selling smoking paraphernalia, and he personally feels the regulations should require formal licensing for any establishment that sells any smoking-related products.

“These are some ideas. We are open to others,” but he urged people to submit those ideas soon, preferably in an email to him or to Sabin or Redente as the first draft of writing concludes by the end of this week.

Alder Ficklin Sorely Missed

Before the WEB meeting formally began, its chair, Rebecca Cramer, called for a moment of silence in memory of Tom Ficklin, long-time civic leader and journalist and most recently Beaver Hills alder, who died suddenly last Wednesday night at the age of 75.

“He was such a huge part of my life,” she recalled. ​“I would get ten emails a day from him! I miss him so much.”

She said the management team had sent flowers and a plant to Ficklin’s wife Julia, and other WEB attendees also shared their memories, appreciation, and condolences.

Former mayoral candidate and retired police officer Shafiq Abdusabbur, who preceded Ficklin as the Ward 28 alder, remembered Ficklin as a fascinating man, ​“a humble guy who yet stood his ground.”

Ficklin’s main legacy, he said, will be the mentorship he has provided to so many people in the community.

Per City Charter, a special election for Ward 28 alder must now take place within 45 days. Whoever wins that election will serve out the rest of Ficklin’s two-year term, which runs through the end of 2025.

Would Abdussabur consider throwing his hat in the ring?

Now’s not the time to speculate on that, he replied. 

“Now’s the time to memorialize Tom and to support his family.”

Ficklin’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday at Yale’s Battell Chapel beginning at 11 a.m.