Agoura lets Sam’s off the hook

No new laws for tobacco and pipe dealers


The Agoura Hills City Council will not pursue new, tougher laws regulating tobacco retailers, despite complaints earlier this year from residents who felt Sam’s Tobacco, Cigar and Hookah shop at Lake Lindero Drive was more like a “head shop” than a tobacco store. Head shops sell drug paraphernalia.

Residents objected to the store because it’s in a residential neighborhood and accessible to children on their way to Lindero Canyon Middle School.

But enacting new legislation proved problematic.

Councilmember Denis Weber said that although he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t want to tell someone else that they can’t.

“An ordinance like this goes back to how far we can go in outlawing everything we don’t like,” Weber said. He said it was inappropriate for the city to impose harsh regulations on a legal business.

Councilmember Dan Kuperberg said residents who were upset over the tobacco shop in their neighborhood wanted the store shut down, not just regulated.

“I believe in capitalism, free enterprise,” Kuperberg said. City Council members are not “morality police,” he said.

City Attorney Craig Steele said state laws allow certain items to be sold in conjunction with tobacco. Steele said any new law must be narrow enough to apply to specific shops but not so narrow as to impact supermarkets that sell tobacco products.

Steele said drawing the line between hookah shops and stores that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products could create “unintended consequences.”

City planner Doug Hooper presented options for the council to consider. For existing stores he said the city could establish new business license requirements that apply only to tobacco shops. Paraphernalia at these shops could either be prohibited or phased out over a certain number of years, allowing owners in the meantime to sell their inventory of pipes, hookahs and other products.

Hooper said either new business license requirements could be imposed on future tobacco retailers, or the number of tobacco stores in the city could be capped. And zoning laws could be changed to require the shops to be located a certain distance from homes, schools, parks and youth centers.

Passing an ordinance based on location seemed reasonable, said Mayor Bill Koehler.

Schwarz said the fear over children using drugs sparked the uproar over the hookah store.

“We should not create a law driven by somebody’s fear,” Schwarz said.

He said, for example, that the city can’t prevent fast food chains from opening, even though fast food is deemed a health hazard and contributes to childhood obesity.

Councilmember John Edelston said government is obligated to protect the populace.

“The state does it all the time,” Edelston said, referencing the law that requires chain restaurants to disclose calories, fat content and other nutritional information on the food they serve.

According to Koehler, “The ultimate responsibility lies with us as parents, instilling values in children as to what is harmful. It’s not the responsibility of government to go so far as to usurp the fundamental responsibilities of parents.”

The city decided to leave its current regulations in tact.


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