Tyson Odermann, Contributing Photographer

Change is coming to New Haven’s many smoke shops under new city regulations on their location, displays and licensing — or, rather, the current market will essentially be frozen in place.

The Board of Alders last Monday passed a pair of measures designed to curb the industry’s growth and protect the health of residents under age 21, officials said. Mayor Justin Elicker signed the legislation on Thursday.

One of the two laws, a zoning change, restricts stores that sell tobacco or vape products from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, houses of worship or parks, or within 3,000 feet of another smoke shop. The result, according to a map made by city officials, is to bar the creation of any new smoke shops except for a barren segment of Water Street near Long Wharf — at least until existing establishments close.

“We have 212 tobacco and nicotine retailers in a city of 139,000,” Elicker said to reporters and television cameras invited for the unusually promoted signing ceremony. “We don’t need any more of these shops.”

Smoke shops that already operate will be required to remove flashy signage and make their products and paraphernalia less conspicuous to passersby.

The second measure in the new regulatory regime requires tobacco and vape sellers, beginning in October, to obtain municipal licenses that will cost $150 each year. Failure to comply may lead to fines of as much as $1,000 per day, for repeated violations.

Joel Coronado, at the counter of Chapel Smoke Shop on Monday afternoon, said he understood the rationale behind the new laws and is happy they do not shut down existing retailers. 

“They’re trying to take it away from the parks, the schools, but at least they’re not messing with the establishments that are already here,” he told the News. “Everybody that’s grandfathered in, they grandfathered in. That’s cool.”

Coronado said that he blames a “backlash” toward smoke shops on the poor behavior of other stores.

Although Coronado had heard of the new laws, he was not aware of the regulations on signage. Chapel Street Smoke’s storefront windows are bordered by flashing LED strips, apparently contrary to the prohibition on “lights that flash, shimmer, glitter.” Coronado said he planned to visit City Hall for clarification.

While several smoke shops still have storefront displays that would be illegal under the new regulations, Mist Tobacco & Convenience, located at 342 Orange St., has already begun to adapt its storefront based on the newly passed ordinance — turning off their LED signs and retracting advertisements for nicotine products.

City Health Director Maritza Bond was alongside Elicker at the signing ceremony. She announced that the New Haven Health Department will make an effort to educate smoke shop owners about the ordinance before it goes into effect. The health department will proceed with compliance checks after Oct. 1 to ensure smoke shops adhere to the new regulations.

“This is about protecting public health and the safety and welfare of our youth,” Bond said, according to the New Haven Independent.

Both laws emerged from a working group of alders and city officials, spearheaded by Alders Richard Furlow of Westville’s Ward 27, Eli Sabin of Ward 7 in East Rock and downtown and Frank Redente of Ward 15 in Fair Haven.

The zoning and licensing components came before the Legislation Committee in January and February, respectively. They were delayed repeatedly for final passage by the board while staff adjusted the legislative text.

“This zoning regulation is long overdue, but we took our time and we worked months to get it right, and I believe we have,” Furlow, the board’s majority leader, told his colleagues before the vote on the zoning ordinance amendment.

The crackdown may have little noticeable effect right away and, by design, will make smoke shops less noticeable in the Elm City. But it allowed local leaders to unite behind a legislative achievement that the city can execute on its own, at a time of struggles over funding from the state and federal governments.

Alder Adam Marchand said the licensing mandate “has at its center the goal of protecting the public health, and to shield our youth and most impressionable residents from the powerful allure of these addictive and harmful products.”

The ordinance comes over a year after Connecticut Attorney General William Tong brought a lawsuit against Anesthesia, a smoke shop on Chapel Street, for the unlawful sale of cannabis.