817-5. 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) Licensed Cannabis Businesses. No license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing at a location licensed for commercial cannabis activity by the State of California under Business and Professions Code Division 10.
(c) Pharmacies. No license may be issued, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing in a pharmacy.
(d) Proximity to Youth-Oriented Facilities. No license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing within five hundred (500) feet of a youth-oriented facility as measured by a straight line from the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which the youth-oriented facility is located to the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which the applicant’s business is located.
(e) Proximity to Other Tobacco Retailers. No license may issue, and no existing license may be renewed, to authorize tobacco retailing within five hundred (500) 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 to the nearest point of the property line of the parcel on which an existing licensee’s business is located.
(f) Population and Density. The issuing of tobacco retailer licenses is limited as follows:
(1) The total number of tobacco retailer licenses within the County shall be limited to one for each two thousand five hundred (2,500) inhabitants of the County.
(2) For the purposes of this subsection, the total population of the County 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 issue to authorize tobacco retailing if the number of tobacco retailer licenses already issued equals or exceeds the total number authorized pursuant to subsection (f)(1) of this section.
(g) Existing Retailers. Notwithstanding subsections (a) through (f) of this section, a tobacco retailer selling tobacco product operating lawfully on the date the ordinance codified in this section is adopted may receive a license so long as all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The license is timely obtained and is renewed without lapse or revocation;
(2) The tobacco retailer is not closed for business or otherwise suspends tobacco retailing for more than sixty (60) consecutive days not associated with a violation of this chapter;
(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 to a new proprietor(s) in an arm’s length transaction. A transfer of a license from an existing tobacco retailer in good standing to a parent, child, spouse, or domestic partner for tobacco retailing at the same retail location who is eligible to hold a tobacco retailer license is not a substantial change to the business operation; and
(4) The tobacco retailer retains the right to operate under other applicable laws.
(5) This provision regarding existing tobacco retailers shall also apply to existing shisha tobacco retailers. Notwithstanding Section 817-3(a), existing shisha tobacco retailer shall not be prohibited from the sale of flavored shisha tobacco products.
(h) Change of Business Dispute. If the County determines that a tobacco retailer has substantially changed their business premises or operation and the tobacco retailer disputes this determination, the tobacco retailer bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that such change(s) do not constitute a substantial change. (Ord. 2718, 7/11/2023)