Iowa City enacts new regulation on tobacco retail locations, lifts tobacco permit moratorium

Tobacco retailers in Iowa City are now facing restrictions on where they can set up shop, following the city’s adoption of a zoning code amendment meant to promote public health by discouraging tobacco use.

At its meeting Dec. 10, the Iowa City City Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance amending the city’s zoning code that would now require a 500-foot buffer between tobacco retailers and K-12 schools, institutions of…