Iowa City takes next steps to limit tobacco and vape shops

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Council is reviewing changes to a city ordinance that would limit the number of tobacco and vape shops in the city.

The city in June put a moratorium on tobacco permits until Dec. 31 to give the council time to address the “increased presence” of tobacco and vape shops in the city.

At a Tuesday work session, council members began reviewing proposed amendments to a city ordinance that consists of three elements: limit the number of tobacco permits; ban the sale of Kratom, an herbal substance that can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects; and change the zoning code to bar tobacco/vape sales within 500 feet of K-12 schools and university property.

The draft amendments also propose a 500-foot separation between stores selling tobacco or vape products. The proposal also gives the council the power to cap the number of tobacco permits through a resolution.

The council will continue its work on the amendments in another work session.

Tobacco permit cap

The council indicated it will consider capping tobacco permits in the city at 55, with existing permits grandfathered in.

City Attorney Eric Goers said the city now has 62 tobacco permits, though not all of the businesses with permits are selling tobacco products.

Kum & Go at Mormon Trek Boulevard and Benton Street, for example, has an active permit but “has been closed for a long time,” Goers said, adding the chain had renewed its permit. “So their firm is good, but I guess my point is that might change at some point. And so we want to be able to open it up to new businesses.“

The city still is figuring out the logistics about what would happen should a permit become available if a cap is adopted.

Additionally, there were questions of what would happen if a business, like a gas station or grocery store, wanted to open in the city and not being able to sell tobacco products would be a “deal breaker.”

Zoning code changes

The zoning ordinance amendment, barring tobacco and vape shops within 500 feet of a school or university/college property, would have to be presented to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendation before going to the City Council.

The council members were in agreement on that separation, but not with the proposal requiring a 500-foot separation between retailers selling tobacco.

City council members Josh Moe and Andrew Dunn worried the separation between retailers could create scenarios where a business would stay in the same place rather than perhaps finding another place that also would meet the 500-foot requirements.

“It creates all kinds of weird distortions that I think that we can achieve our goals without that piece of it,” Moe said.

Kratom ban

Under the proposed amendments, Kratom would be unlawful to sell, and advertising or distributing any Kratom product (directly or indirectly) would be banned as well.

The city could enforce the ban by making its sale a misdemeanor or a municipal infraction.

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