In an attempt to modify an outdated city code, the city of Costa Mesa, Calif. is looking at a handful of changes that could affect new cigar lounges in the city. The city is facing an upcoming deadline on how to regulate smoking lounges, something the city council has been trying to resolve for nearly two years. As a response to several new hookah lounges opening up, the city placed a moratorium on additional smoking lounges being opened in Nov. 2013. That moratorium has been extended twice and is currently set to expire on Nov. 5. Because of gaps in the city code, smoking lounges–which include cigar stores, hookah lounges and electronic cigarette stores–are regulated like restaurants as there is no separate code to cover these types of businesses. With some vagueness in the law, two businesses have expanded to include smoking lounges, one of which is Orange County Cigar Co., a premium cigar retailer. The other is a hookah lounge. Both would be allowed to continue operation as legal nonconforming uses, though would have to continue to abide by the city’s requirement that they open no earlier than 8 am and close by 11 pm, and they wouldn’t be allowed ...
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