New Vape Shop Will Beat City’s Ban

Cream City Vape & Tobacco Outlet. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Championed by Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, Milwaukee’s moratorium on the opening of new electronic cigarette (vape) stores will go into effect Friday. But at least one more new store is already coming.

“We are taking a very short break on this particular issue in order to collect ourselves, come up with the precise and appropriate legislation for long-term resolutions and protect the health, safety and welfare of our residents,” said Brostoff when the council voted on the matter Feb. 7. “This is an item that has a track record of targeting our children.”

The moratorium lasts through August 1 and blocks the issuance of occupancy permits for new vape stores. On Feb. 15, Mayor Cavalier Johnson signed the proposal, unanimously approved by the council, but the timing of publishing the required public notice has the date of its first enactment set for Feb. 25.

Brostoff said he was motivated to act, in part, by the proliferation of the stores along Brady Street on the Lower East Side. And even though he got the moratorium passed, another vape shop will soon open on the Lower East Side.

Signage has been installed and interior construction is underway for Cream City Vape & Tobacco Outlet in the East Pointe Marketplace, 544 E. Ogden Ave. Though an occupancy permit has yet to be formally issued, Jouda Jaber applied for the permit for the business in September, before Brostoff was even elected. The new business will occupy the space between a Starbucks cafe and U.S. Cellular store.

It would get approved under a circumstance Department of Neighborhood Services Commissioner Erica Roberts raised concern about when the proposal was first debated: stores for which buildout was already underway likely have rights to continue to be regulated as they were when city approval was first sought. She suggested several such circumstances could exist across the city.

E-cigarette stores have proliferated beyond the Lower East Side and can be found across the city. But Brostoff’s district, which includes the East Side and Riverwest, is home to a heavy concentration. At the opposite end of the alderman’s district, near UW-Milwaukee and Milwaukee’s border with Shorewood, two stores stare each other down from across the street. Blue Dream Vape & Smoke, 3473 N. Oakland Ave., and Milwaukee Vapor, 3470 N. Oakland Ave., are both illuminated by LED window strip lights.

The city’s moratorium, and any future regulations, won’t impact the ability to use the products.

“We are not saying whether this is good or bad. We are saying we want neighbors, residents and the city to have a say on where these go, so they’re not too close to schools, day cares and childcare [facilities],” said co-sponsor Alderwoman Marina Dimitrijevic. She said she better understood the issue after Brostoff showed her the number of establishments proliferating on Brady Street in his district.

“What we are trying to do is bring regulation to an unregulated area,” said the alderwoman. She compared it to licensing Airbnb units or electric scooters. “This one is a little bit different because it involves a substance that is very harmful and additive to people, especially children.”

Ald. Mark Borkowski said the businesses have enjoyed a kind of “built-in immunity” to date. “I would hope somehow, some way, maybe it’s state legislation, to tell places like this ‘your free pass is over’,” said the third co-sponsor. Mark Chambers, Jr., Russell W. Stamper, II and Common Council President Jose G. Perez also joined as co-sponsors.

City Attorney Tearman Spencer and Deputy City Attorney Todd Farris issued a written legal opinion that the proposal was legal and enforceable under the city’s “police powers” to protect resident health, safety and welfare. The moratorium doesn’t apply to businesses where 10% or less of the floor space is dedicated to e-cigarette sales or 10% or less of the business’ sales consist of e-cigarette devices and paraphernalia. Businesses that are already open can continue to operate.

Working with the Department of City Development and Department of Neighborhood Services, a zoning or licensing framework is expected to be presented for permanent adoption. The council, under a proposal led by then-alderman Terry Witkowski, enacted a moratorium on cash-for-gold stores in 2010 to allow a land-use framework to be developed.

The moratorium is the first major legislative proposal from Brostoff since he was elected in November.

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