Centerville bans smoke shops

Smoke shops have joined taverns and tattoo parlors in the banned category in Centerville. In a 3-2 vote, the City Council on Tuesday added a definition of tobacco specialty businesses to the municipal zoning code, then voted to prohibit those stores from every type of zone. The speciality businesses are defined under state law as those that make more than 35 percent of their annual gross receipts from the sale of tobacco products.

Council members Ken Averett and Lawrence Wright voted for the zoning ordinance prohibiting smoke shops, while John Higginson and Sherri Lindstrom voted against it. Because of the deadlock, Mayor Ronald Russell cast the tie-breaking vote. Council member Justin Allen was not at the meeting. Higginson, who said he doesn’t smoke and wishes no one did, said his vote was based on "people’s right to open a store." Cigarettes and other types of tobacco will still be available at convenience stores and other outlets in Centerville. And the ban does not affect the city’s only existing specialty store, the Smoke Shop, at 356 N. Market Place Drive.

"We’re not taking away somebody’s right to smoke," Wright said. The council action was prompted by HB95S1, a bill passed earlier this year by the Utah Legislature that requires new smoke shops to get a city business license to operate and restricts where they can operate. Under the law, a retail tobacco specialty business cannot be within 1,000 feet of a community location — a school, child care facility, church, library, public park or playground, youth center and public arcade — or within 600 feet of property zoned or used for agriculture or residential use.

Those limitations significantly reduce the area where a smoke shop could go, according to Cory Snyder, community development director. In addition, HB95S1 allows a city to enact more restrictive requirements, and Centerville Planning Commission members last month unanimously recommended a ban. A report on the reasons for the recommendation notes that the city’s general plan "desires a tax base of ‘high quality’ business uses." In addition, the commission also found that "other similar or problematic uses, such as taverns, privates clubs, tattoo parlors, are also not ‘permitted uses’ of any zoning district," the report says.