Oxford considers updates to tobacco licensing regulations, passes new moratorium on certain short term rentals
During a city council meeting Oct. 1, council members voted in favor of a new short term rental moratorium and accepted an agreement with Oxford Township for fire and EMS services. New regulations on tobacco businesses may also be on the way.
Almost two years after Oxford first passed a moratorium on new tobacco retailers as it drafted legislation to better regulate the industry, the city has introduced an ordinance with additional licensing standards for tobacco businesses.
The city previously passed an ordinance adding a licensing requirement and limiting the number of tobacco retailers in town in August 2023. City staff planned to implement the regulations in early 2024, but a state law which went into effect this past April restricted local governments’ ability to regulate tobacco licensing. Columbus and several other cities including Oxford filed a lawsuit against the state for infringing on municipalities’ home rule rights. This fall, a Franklin County judge found that the state’s law went against the Ohio constitution, paving the way for Oxford to begin enforcing its tobacco regulations.
The city held a first reading of the ordinance during an Oxford City Council meeting Oct. 1. Also during the meeting, council members approved of an updated agreement to provide Fire and EMS services to Oxford Township and passed a new moratorium on short term rentals in specific zoning districts.
Oxford considers additions to tobacco licensing policy
In 2023, Oxford passed an ordinance to create a new chapter in its code establishing tobacco retailer licensing requirements. The chapter established that no retail establishment can sell tobacco without first obtaining a license from the city and limited the number of licenses to one per 1,500 residents in Oxford. Licensed businesses cannot be within 500 feet of a “youth-oriented facility.” The licensing limit did not apply to businesses currently operating in the city.
While the Columbus lawsuit against the state was being decided, Oxford did not enforce its licensing requirement. Now that the lawsuit has been resolved, city staff introduced a new ordinance to amend the current language in the tobacco licensing chapter.
If passed, the new ordinance would add late fees for any businesses that requested license renewals less than 30 days prior to their current license’s expiration. The ordinance would also establish a policy to suspend licenses for up to six months if a court order declares the business to be a public nuisance, the city receives substantiated evidence that the business has sold to people under 21 multiple times in the previous year, the business refuses or thwarts a city inspection or more.
Under the new ordinance, tobacco licenses could also be revoked if a business includes false or misleading information in its license application, sold or distributed tobacco products to people under 21 multiple times in the previous year, refused or hindered inspection, has been subject to three or more suspensions in the previous three years or failed to pay fines or penalties associated with suspensions.
Scott Davie, principal of Talawanda High School, and Amy Macechko, director of the Coalition for a Healthy Community, both spoke in support of the resolution. Davie said the effort will help to keep kids safe by making it more difficult to access devices like vapes which have become more common in schools in the past decade.
“From my perspective as somebody who searches and locates these vape devises on a fairly regular basis on behalf of the community, we do have some bad actors in town who are not doing their part to make sure that these things are staying in the hands of people of the appropriate age,” Davie said. “… And so anything we can do to combat that is absolutely appreciated.”
Unless the ordinance is tabled, council members will vote on whether to adopt the additional language at the Oct. 15 city council meeting.
New agreement increases Oxford Township commitment to Fire and EMS funding
Council voted unanimously to accept an agreement for the Oxford Fire Department (OFD) to provide Fire and EMS services to Oxford Township. The township will pay $200,000 to the city each year from 2025 through 2028.
The Township is currently under a two-year agreement to pay $158,000 per year for these services.
OFD will also complete annual fire inspections for commercial establishments in the unincorporated portion of Oxford Township. The department will also provide an annual report to the township detailing the calls and runs in the township.
This November, Oxford voters will decide whether to pass a Fire and EMS levy to address a projected $24 million budget shortfall over the next 10 years. If the levy, which would raise an estimated $1.284 million per year, passes, Miami University will contribute an additional $1.27 million per year to OFD for the next decade.
"Issue 2 on the November ballot will be the opportunity for Oxford citizens to really say, ‘Yes, we want protection from fire and for EMS,’” Mayor Bill Snavely said. “If it’s not passed, I don’t know really what we’ll do, to be honest.”
Moratorium on short term rentals in Mile Square passes
After passing legislation requiring short term rentals in the city outside the Mile Square to be owner-occupied, the city has now passed a new moratorium on new short term rentals within the Mile Square to draft additional regulations.
The intent of the new moratorium is to prevent new short term rentals from starting within the specific zoning districts that make up the Mile Square until April 1, 2025. Community Development Director Sam Perry introduced the moratorium and said it would give the city’s planning commission time to consider whether to extend the primary residence requirement to short term rentals in the Mile Square.
Council member Alex French said she wasn't convinced the moratorium was necessary. She was recently in the market for a new home in Oxford, she said, and the biggest problem facing the Mile Square that she saw was out-of-state property managers converting family homes into student rentals.
“I don’t know that adding the extra work to [Community Development Director] Sam [Perry] and his team right now when we’re already going through code rewrites and things feels like the juice is worth a squeeze for me personally,” French said.
Council member Chantel Raghu said if the student population declines in the next decade, more homes could become short term rentals in the future. She said passing this moratorium now to give the city time to add regulations would help prevent a bigger problem from arising in the future.
Despite some hesitations, the resolution unanimously passed. Community Development Director Sam Perry said he could draft language to put in front of council as soon as December, and he didn’t expect the moratorium to last the full six months.
On Oct. 10, the city’s parking and transportation advisory board will meet at Talawanda Middle School to discuss plans for future phases of the Oxford Area Trail System in the northwest portion of the city. Oxford City Council will meet again in the Oxford Courthouse at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 for a regular meeting, followed by a budget work session at 7 p.m. Oct. 17.
