Santa Ana Municipal Code Art. XIV Hookah Parlors

The city council finds that hookah parlors have been associated with increases in noise, loitering, public drinking, possession of illegal weapons, underage drinking, and arson; that hookah parlors exacerbate the inherently dangerous behavior of tobacco use around non-tobacco users; diminish the protection of children from exposure to smoking and tobacco while they increase the potential for minors to associate smoking and tobacco with a healthy lifestyle; and weaken the protection of the public from smoking and tobacco-related pollution; and that hookah parlors if allowed in the city would have adverse secondary effects on surrounding properties, including but not limited to lowering property values and introducing incompatible land uses to existing neighborhoods; and that in order to serve public health, safety, and welfare of the residents and businesses within the city, the declared purpose of this article is to prohibit hookah parlors as defined in this article.

(Ord. No. NS-2763, § 2, 3-3-08)

(a) Hookah parlor shall mean any facility or location whose business operation, whether as its primary use or as an ancillary use, is denoted by the smoking of tobacco or other substances through one or more pipes (commonly known as a hookah, waterpipe, shisha or narghile) designed with a tube passing through an urn of water that cools the smoke as it is drawn through it, including but not limited to establishments known variously as hookah bars, hookah lounges or hookah cafes.

(b) Ancillary use shall be defined as that term is defined in section 41-13.5 of the Code.

(c) Primary use shall mean a use that is not an ancillary use.

(Ord. No. NS-2763, § 2, 3-3-08)

It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to own, manage, conduct, or operate any hookah parlor or to participate as an employee, contractor, agent or volunteer, or in any other manner or capacity, in any hookah parlor in the city.

(Ord. No. NS-2763, § 2, 3-3-08)