DEARBORN — The City Council approved a new smoking lounge ordinance this week that will require a state tobacco exemption for businesses to operate within city limits and also enforces a strict 18 and over age limit among several other policies.

The council approved ordinance No. 15-1455 at the meeting on Tuesday, February 10, by adding an article entitled “Smoking Lounges” to the licensing and business chapter, in a 7-0 vote.

The new ordinance includes a 15 business cap on the number of state tobacco exemptions operating in the city. Business owners who plan to open new hookah lounges in the city would have to get the approval of the city council. 

Along with a strict 18 and over age limit to prevent smoking by minors (and their exposure to second-hand smoke), the ordinance includes zoning rules that will require smoking lounges to be at least 1,200 feet away from another existing business and at least 700 feet from residential, school, park or childcare facilities.

The new hookah lounge ordinance closely mirrors laws that were passed in Auburn Hills and Shelby Township in 2013, which reflect the state law but gives the city room to enforce its own policies. 

In 2010, smoking lounges had to abide by the state-wide Smoke Free Air Law. The law forced businesses to remodel their establishment as well as purchase a state tobacco exemption. Those exemptions now run anywhere from $30,000 to $50,000 and are difficult to obtain, due to the state placing a cap on the number it allocated.

With lack of enforcement and loopholes in the state law, City Council President Susan Dabaja said local municipalities have been forced to deal with the afermath. 

“In my opinion, I think when the state passed the law, they placed the burden on the local municipalities to deal with the problem,” Dabaja said. “Basically we have a lot of hookah establishments that aren’t following state laws and that’s a problem for our city and it’s a problem for our residents.”

Businesses will be given 180 days to comply with the new ordinance. According to Mayor Jack O’Reilly, the city will use the next few months to educate business owners about the new policies and work with them to get their businesses in compliance. 

Herbal debate

City officials and business owners had been left scrambling these last few weeks as the six month moratorium the city implemented last year was drawing to a close and several issues pertaining to the operation of a hookah lounge had arisen. 

Some business owners classified their hookah products as “herbal,” claiming it omitted them from having to follow the strict guidelines implemented by the state law, which forced businesses to renovate their buildings and separate tobacco consumption from food service.  

On Tuesday, February 3, the city council, city attorney and mayor held a study session at the Dearborn Administrative Center to discuss the possibilities of recognizing “herbal” products in the city smoking lounge ordinance. 

The idea would be to allow businesses to serve “herbal” hookah products, but still require them to follow the state exemption laws which would separate food from hookah. The businesses would also be subjected to ventilation requirements.

The city council plans to hold more study sessions in the near future to determine whether they can add a “herbal” exception to the new ordinance. 

Council members debated whether that exception could be problematic, as the city would need to routinely test hookah products to ensure that they are herbal, which could be a costly process. Councilman Mike Sareini suggested the city implement an annual fee to cover the costs. 

Councilman Bob Abraham expressed fears that business owners who have been breaking the law for years will not be penalized because they may claim they’ve had herbal products all along, when that might not be the case. The city will have a hard time determining whether a business was serving herbal hookah before the state law was enacted. 

Dabaja said she was not in favor of a smoking lounge ordinance that would penalize and hurt businesses in the city.

“I understand we have violators, I understand we have people who haven’t gotten the licenses required or have been ticketed for state violations,” Dabaja said. “But it doesn’t mean that if we put something in place, we can’t begin enforcement and begin to get our businesses to comply and at the same time not kill our business.”