Council Extends Tobacco Store Moratorium

The South San Francisco City Council on Wednesday night unanimously approved an extended moratorium on retail tobacco stores for 10 months and 15 days.

During the moratorium, the council will draft retail tobacco store guidelines addressing concerns such as the location of the stores. The guidelines will go into effect at the moratorium's expiration.

The moratorium was first approved June 8 for 45 days after the council received several complaints from citizens in the Brentwood neighborhood of a shop selling pipes often used for smoking marijuana. That moratorium would have expired on July 23.

“What we don’t want to see is a proliferation of these things,” said Mayor Kevin Mullin. “We don’t want to see them springing up all over the place.”

Mullin said the council was unaware when the business was established because the council did not give initial approval. The council would like to have more control over the establishment of these businesses.

“Procedurally, we would like to weigh in on these matters,” Mullin said.

Mullin said he understands the businesses have rights, but by enacting the moratorium, the City Council now has time to assess how to deal with tobacco shops.

Councilmember Karyl Matsumoto noted that in a recent police report, an individual found with marijuana in South City said he had bought smoking paraphernalia from a tobacco shop. The council earlier considered guidelines for authorizing medical marijuana dispensaries, Matsumoto said, and should give retail tobacco stores similar scrutiny.

She also said the Brentwood tobacco store is located in a family environment and should have been better planned.

“It was just a concern that maybe we should have some guidelines,” she said.