After Pushback, Brentwood Agrees to Tweak Tobacco Ordinance

On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council was able to cut through the smoke and grandfathered in existing tobacco retailers under its new proposed ordinance. The item will return, again, to finalize in the coming months.

Had the council moved forward with its ordinance as proposed, it would have led to business closures, a first-come, first-serve application process, and limits of where tobacco sales could occur. This resulted in many business owners and operators coming forward sharing the harsh realities of what the proposed ordinance would do to businesses within the City of Brentwood — including Winco and Rottin Robbie gas station.

After public comment, the city council debated back and forth over a 2-hour time period to work through issues each councilmember had with the proposed and at some points getting “testy” with one another. The council ultimately tweaked its proposed ordinance by directing staff to make the following changes to the ordinance:

Allow existing Tobacco Retailers to be eligible for a TRL, however, any existing Tobacco Retailer that is within 250 feet of a youth-oriented establishment has one year to wind down its tobacco product sales.
Capped at 41 licenses (if a license holder drops, someone new can come in)
Allow hookah lounges to operate in compliance with state law regarding shish and local land use regulations
Calculate fees
Remove distance between TRL-holders as a criteria and remove first come, first serve processing.

Due to the changes, the item will return in a couple of months as staff will be adjusting fees and have to issue another public hearing.

To watch the meeting, see the YouTube video below:

Some of the public comments from businesses owners included (paraphrased)

Tom – as a small business operator, said the changes will have a serious and harmful impact on business. Says as a company they already enforce strict policies to prevent underage sales. Anyone under 35 must show ID, scan and verify. Use secret shoppers and video reviews, anyone who fails a compliance check is terminated immediately. When flavor ban was enacted, they saw a 25% reduction in revenue, not because of demand, but because people went to the next town over. Results in lost jobs, reduction in hours for employees.
Ashley Frietas – a compliance officer for two small businesses, says they check ID’s for anyone under 35 and terminate employees who fail audits. Says ordinance will not stop youth ordinance, but rather push them to another city or online markets. Says there businesses have supported the community last 25 years, they can’t pick up and move since they own the property, first-come, first-service could result in them losing license because they were not first in line—called it unfair.
Norma Hernandez – If I was going to open up a business I certainly would not come to Brentwood if you vote for this because I don’t know if I would be next. All of a sudden I open up a business, its my future, and then I am phased out. She called it price gouging and reminded the council they are a general law city.
Eldon Price – an operator of two businesses, asked the council not to pass the ordinance as written, as it threatens law abiding small businesses. Says they own the property and invested millions, could lose their license due to buffers which is 20% or more of their revenue. Would have to tell 40 people they would have to be laid off. Says they have never failed a sting and are about protecting the youth. Says the city is not solving anything except driving people out of Brentwood.
Jay – family-owned smoke shop owner, says they check ID’s and do not let minors in and called the decoy checks a good thing, but ordinance hits people who are already doing the right thing. Says some rules are already sending people to Antioch and that is lost tax revenue. Questioned why the businesses cannot transfer or sell licenses and locks out any new businesses and hurts those whoever wants to sell business. Says energy should be put into youth education versus driving small business out of Brentwood.
Harry Sigh – says father been a business owner for over 30 years. Did not believe this was a solution, but rather proper parenting was part of the problem.
Vic – called this a compliance issue, but extra restrictions push business out of Brentwood. Asked council to reconsider ordinance.
Connie Hallback of Robinson Oil Corporation, who opened Rotton Robbie’s a few months ago, says they didn’t see this coming and says they have already lost revenue with other cities who have a similar ordinance. Had concerns over 500 ft portion of ordinance and first-come, first-serve which could cost them their license. Says ordinance not only impacts tobacco sales, but gas sales and other store sales because people would go elsewhere.
Chad Lamer – general council for Winco Foods, asked the ordinance to be amended to allow grocery stores be exempt from the distance requirement. Called it unfair to existing retailers that are grocery stores who have operated since 2003. Ordinance would be subject to winddown permit and asked for exemption from distance requirements.
Ariel Pie – says policy pushes people to other cities or online where oversight is weaker and not only undercuts Brentwood business, but sends tax dollars to other cities. Urged council to work with retailers on education, compliance checks and outreach. Urged a balanced solution.
Marc Straunch – explained the distance requirement looks good on paper, but actually becomes a ban and his business of 23 years could be forced to close simply because he is within 500 ft of another retailer—one of them would be put out of business based on first-come, first-serve noting they own their location and cannot just move.

In opposition, many youth and other advocates supported the ordinance.

Council Commentary

Vice Mayor Pa’Tanisha Pierson admitted not a single policy will eliminate youth tobacco usage but ignores data—including City of Berkeley where youth sales dropped from 38% to 4%. City of Burbank youth sales dropped from 27% to 4% while Pasadena went from 20% to 0% and Hollister went from 33% to 4%. She said this is evidence that TRL’s work and reduce overall access and increase accountability.
Meanwhile, Councilmember Jovita Mendoza said this all started because of a “moral decision” versus a “financial decision and her goal was to protect the youth. She said the policy had already been received three or four times in the past but was ready to make the motion.
Councilmember Tony Oerlemans advocated grandfathering in existing businesses and asked why businesses would come to Brentwood if they are going to change the rules. He called it important to support small businesses. He called the grandfathering in of existing businesses a “priority” to him and then allow the violations be the item that takes away licenses in the future—btu did admit they needed a strict ordinance for youth and underage people from buying tobacco.
Councilmember Faye Maloney said they needed a TRL and set a standard, but grandfathering in the businesses already in place was important. She was uncomfortable with eliminating businesses already in place.
Mayor Susannah Meyer said she was in support of a TRL but that hard part was hearing form all the businesses, but was not okay with grandfathering in all the businesses and capping it at 42, but was okay looking at making it more equitable. She said it was designed to be impactful but this was about tobacco prevention and been before the council for three years.