Lakewood, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

44e, treats electronic cigarettes and any device capable of delivering an inhalable dose of nicotine as a vaporized solution as a tobacco product regardless of whether the device is actually filled with nicotine liquid. Item 12 requires a conditional use permit for any such facility in the C-4 zone or a less restrictive commercial or industrial zone, and it bars the Planning and Environment Commission from issuing that permit at all if the site is within 1,000 feet of the property boundary of a church, public or private school or college, library, public playground or park, any building or facility owned and operated by a public entity for public use, a noncommercial religious-organization establishment, or any establishment likely to be used primarily by minors.

The section defines those buffer terms precisely: a public park or playground includes parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and athletic fields belonging to the City, a school district, or a church; a school or college is any institution offering instruction under the California Education Code standards, down through nursery schools and kindergartens. A grandfather clause in subsection (c) spares a facility that already held a valid City business license for tobacco and nicotine sales before this section's effective date from needing a CUP retroactively, but only if it keeps operating continuously without a break exceeding 180 days and without remodeling that changes the nature of the facility or expands the retail floor area used for tobacco and nicotine sales.