07/09/2025
SMOKE SHOPS BANNED DOWNTOWN
By Cindy Yingst, The Columbia Press
Smoke shops will be banned downtown by the end of the week, according to an emergency ordinance passed Tuesday night by the Warrenton City Commission.
The decision came after city officials learned a downtown barber shop was forced to relocate to make way for a smoke shop.
“It’s just 50 feet from our building,” Nicole Bian told commissioners. “In my opinion, that’s not what this community needs. … I think we need to be very thoughtful about the kind of town we’re building.”
Bian plans to open Frolic & Lark Play Studio this fall in the historic Outpost Building, formerly known as the Fenton Grocery. The indoor children’s play space would provide a safe spot for open play, birthday parties and licensed after-school care, according to the business’s website. A coffee shop and café also are planned.
The city has yet to receive a request to turn the 844-square-foot building that formerly housed the Clipper Station into a smoke and v**e shop. The building – and the entire block that also houses Warrenton Mini Mart and Fultano’s – are owned by Garibaldi Bay LLC, a business entity that lists its officers as Gurjit and Sukhmanjit Singh of Camas, Wash.
Warrenton leaders found there were no city laws on the books pertaining to smoke shops. Legal businesses can’t be banned, but they can be regulated by time, manner and place, just as the city has done with potential new ma*****na operations, n**e dancing, and ministorage facilities. In the case of ma*****na operations, the city chose in 2016 to allow them southeast of Highway 101 only – in the Costco area. More recently, ministorage businesses were restricted from downtown and the number of units tied to the population.
Ordinance 1294, which amends the city municipal code, was the subject of two public hearings – one on July 3 before the Planning Commission and one July 8 before the City Commission. An opportunity to appeal the ordinance ends July 10, with the revised ordinance taking effect July 11. The ordinance prohibits smoke and v**e shops along Main Avenue between Northeast First Street and Whiskey Road, at the south city limits. Smoke shops can operate in other commercial locations in the city.
The ordinance doesn’t prevent cigarette or ni****ne sales, just businesses that derive 40 percent or more of their sales from those products or who have devoted more than 40 percent of their floorspace to those products.
“Warrenton doesn’t need a new smoke shop – nor do we need a new mortuary in our community,” resident Jim Ray wrote to commissioners. “In fact, a new smoke shop will contribute to the need for another mortuary. … (We) need to protect our children from the corrupting influences of addictive, destructive substances.”
He lauded the owner of Clipper Station for contributing to the hometown atmosphere downtown and wrote that she shouldn’t have been forced to relocate.
Resident Suzy Balensifer reminded commissioners that “failure to create and/or stick to a community vision brought us the extremely large and unhappy welcome everyone receives as they enter our downtown area (the storage facility). Smoke shops draw and encourage loitering and unhealthy behaviors.”
Votes of both the Planning Commission and City Commission were unanimous.
