Dearborn Ordinance Caps Number of Hookah Bars

Existing hookah cafés will be required to get updated licenses and exemptions to Michigan’s Clean Indoor Air Act under a new Dearborn ordinance, which also applies to cigar lounges. (Photo via Creative Commons)

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Dearborn city officials are placing new licensing restrictions on hookah cafés in a new ordinance addressing growing concerns about the proliferation of the smoking lounges in the city.

There are currently 15 hookah lounges that have received exemptions to Michigan’s Clean Indoor Air Act, more than any other city in Michigan. The lounges are important cultural centers among Arab Americans, who make up about 40 percent of Dearborn residents, and offer an alternative to bars for Muslims, who don’t drink alcohol.

The Detroit Free Press reports the tougher ordinance responds to officials’ and residents’ worries that the proliferation of hookah bars is both a public health concern on par with cigarette smoking and a possible detriment to city economic development efforts.

“I think there was a feeling among some that we don’t want to become the hookah capital,” Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr. said.

The ordinance passed by the city council caps the number of hookah cafés at the current 15, and also requires they get a state exemption to the law prohibiting smoking in establishments that sell. The businesses have six months to get updated licenses and comply with the state law.

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The 11-page ordinance also regulates cigar bars. The code restricts the lounges to people under the age of 18; limits their concentration and operation near schools, daycares and parks; and requires enforcement of anti-loitering rules, including the posting of anti-loitering signs.

Local officials in Canton Township, Troy , Auburn Hills and Shelby Township have also regulated hookah cafés.

Majed Moughni of Dearborn said he appreciates that the city council is looking out for the health and well-being of residents, but questioned how enforcing the law will affect police response to neighborhood crime.

“We need law enforcement to police our neighborhoods more than we need them to police our garages and hookah bars,” Moughni said.

Some hookah lounge owners say the new laws are worrisome threats to their livelihoods. Rashad Bazzy, who owns Lava Java Café and Midnight Café, said the law unfairly targets longtime business owners who invested money “especially when we’re not breaking any law.”

City officials said they will work with hookah café owners over the next six months to help them comply with the new rules.

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