West New York, NJ Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Section 414-14 of the Code of the Town of West New York works in two steps. Its first sentence says the omission of any use from the Schedule of District Regulations is an exclusion from all districts, and § 414-13 bars any building or land use other than those the Schedule allows by right or special permit. Its second sentence, amended 9-20-2023 by Ord. No. 8/23, names the uses outright: smoke shops and vape shops are expressly prohibited as uses in all zone districts within the Town.

Section 414-11 supplies the definitions, added by the same ordinance on 9-20-2023. A smoke shop is any premises dedicated as a principal business to the display, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing or marketing of tobacco, tobacco products or tobacco paraphernalia, including providing an area for smoking tobacco products. A grocery store, supermarket, convenience store or similar retail use that sells tobacco product is not included within that definition. A vape shop is any premises dedicated as a principal business to the display, sale, distribution, delivery, offering, furnishing or marketing of electronic smoking devices, liquid nicotine containers or vapor product, including an area for vaping, which the code defines as inhaling or exhaling smoke or vapor from any electronic smoking device.

Because the ban works through the use schedule, a shop of this kind has no zoning district in the Town of West New York in which it is permitted. Any person can file a written complaint with the Construction Official under § 414-78, and the Construction Official records and investigates it and serves notice of the violation. Under § 414-79, the Board of Commissioners or, with its approval, the Construction Official can bring legal action to restrain or abate a use that violates the chapter.

Chapter 345, Smoking, is a separate rule. It prohibits smoking in municipal buildings, within a thirty-five-foot radius of their entrances, and in designated parks and recreation facilities, and it is enforced by the Police Director.