July 1, 2025
AGENDA
Community Development REPORT
DATE: July 1, 2025
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM: Lina Velasco, Director of Community Development
Eva Mann, Code Enforcement Manager
Kevin Tisdell, Code Enforcement Officer II
Subject: Amendment of the City’s Tobacco Retailers Moratorium FINANCIAL IMPACT: The moratorium ordinance amendment, if adopted, would be enforced pursuant to routine code
enforcement efforts, which are already included within
the City’s budget. The proposed amendments would
enable additional tobacco retailer licenses to be issued, which include a fee to recover costs related to licensing and enforcement.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
April 16, 2024
May 21, 2024
April 1, 2025
June 24, 2025
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
On June 24, 2025, the City Council introduced an
Ordinance amending the scope of the tobacco retailer
moratorium to create a pathway for long-standing
Richmond-based tobacco retailers to obtain a tobacco
retailer license while the moratorium remains in effect.
The proposed amendment would establish a Pathway to
Compliance Program for legacy retailers that meet
certain City Council-identified criteria and an expanded opportunity to meet the City’s most current compliance
requirements.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: ADOPT (second reading) an ordinance amending Ordinance No. 03-25, as amended, to allow identified
long-time Richmond-based retailers who once held a
City tobacco retailers license to obtain such license
during the moratorium — Community Development
July 1, 2025
Department/Code Enforcement Division (Lina Velasco/
Eva Mann/Kevin Tisdell 510-621-1283).
BACKGROUND:
The City Council of the City of Richmond has a well-documented record of regulating the activity of tobacco retailing in the City that protects the public health, safety, and welfare of its residents, and most importantly its youth.
On July 17, 2018, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 20-18 N.S., which, among other things, amended Richmond Municipal Code (“RMC”) Chapter 7.106, prohibiting the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products, establishing a minimum pack size for little cigars and cigars, and imposing location requirements on new tobacco retailers from youth populated areas and other licensed retailers. In passing this ordinance, the City Council adopted explicit and extensive findings highlighting how the sale of tobacco, particularly to youth, presents an imminent threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the City of Richmond.
On September 10, 2019, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 14-19 N.S. amending Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 7.106 - Tobacco Retailer License - to prohibit the sale of electronic cigarettes.
In 2021, the oversight of the Tobacco Retailer License program was transferred from the Richmond Police Department’s Regulatory Unit to the Code Enforcement Division of the Community Development Department.
In late 2023, the City began to notice an increase in the establishment of new tobacco retailers that failed to obtain proper licensing. Following these complaints regarding the proliferation of unlicensed tobacco retailers, locations of tobacco retailer businesses, and the harmful effects of tobacco on the health, safety and welfare of city residents, especially youth, on April 15, 2024, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 03-24 N.S., which placed a temporary 45-day moratorium on the issuance of any new permits, license, or entitlement for any new tobacco retailer within the City. On May 21, 2024, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 05-24 N.S. extending the temporary moratorium to April 15, 2025, to provide staff sufficient time to study the issue and propose amendments to the Municipal Code (Attachment 1).
DISCUSSION:
On April 1, 2025, City staff requested that the Council consider extending the temporary moratorium for another 12 months, until April 15, 2026, to allow additional time to complete tasks related to creating a new regulatory structure for tobacco retailers. The City Council unanimously passed Ordinance No. 09-25, which extended the moratorium until April 15, 2026.
July 1, 2025
However, when considering the ordinance to extend the moratorium, the City Council discussed the impacts the moratorium may have on long-time Richmond-based retailers, who once held a City tobacco retailers license, and the potential of creating a pathway for these long-standing Richmond-based tobacco retailers to obtain a City tobacco retailer license while the moratorium remains in effect. The proposed amendment would establish a Pathway to Compliance Program for existing legacy tobacco retailers that:
Held a valid City of Richmond tobacco retailer license at any point between 2018 and 2024,
Have continuously maintained a valid City of Richmond business license, Hold a valid State Tobacco Retailers license,
Have the same ownership as when previously licensed as a City of Richmond Tobacco Retailer, and
Have not been found to be engaging in illicit activities, such as selling cannabis, and other drugs.
The City Council directed staff to identify tobacco retailers who met the outlined criteria and therefore qualified their businesses to be included in the Pathway to Compliance and draft the proposed ordinance amendment for further consideration.
Summary of Analysis of Unlicensed Tobacco Retailers
Based on direction received from the City Council, staff conducted a review of all the tobacco retailers that have no city tobacco retailers license (referred to as “unlicensed tobacco retailers”) using several criteria including: Current business owner versus previously licensed tobacco retailer owner name, CA State tobacco license status, City of Richmond business license status, and whether they once held a City of Richmond tobacco retailer license between 2018-2024 (Attachment 2).
Qualification for Pathway to Compliance Program
The City Council set the following criteria to be eligible for the potential Pathway to Compliance to obtain a tobacco retailing license:
1. Held a valid City of Richmond tobacco retailer license at any point between 2018 and 2024
2. Have continuously maintained a valid City of Richmond business license
3. Hold a valid State Tobacco Retailers license
4. Have the same ownership as when previously licensed as a City of Richmond Tobacco Retailer
5. Have not been found to be engaging in illicit activities.
Nine (9) unlicensed tobacco retailers qualify for the City Council’s potential pathway to compliance license based on the criteria above; however, if the City Council wanted to expand the compliance pathway to not consider the owners names matching the original license, an additional 9 retailers would qualify, making the total of 18 legacy
July 1, 2025
businesses qualifying to be a part of the Pathway to Compliance. Assuming all qualifying businesses apply to obtain the City’s Tobacco Retailer license, the total licensed business would increase from 32 to 50 businesses. At the June 24, 2025, meeting, the City Council decided to eliminate criteria 4 (i.e., having the same owner name as when previously licensed as a City of Richmond Tobacco Retailer) in the draft ordinance that was introduced (Attachment 3).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Moratorium Ordinance Nos. 03-24 N.S., 05-24 N.S., and 09-25 N.S.
Attachment 2 – Table of Unlicensed Retailers Analysis
Attachment 3 – Draft Ordinance Amending Moratorium