Watertown Board of Health Finds Tobacco Sale to Minor, Plans Regulation Overhaul

WATERTOWN — May 20, 2026 — Watertown Board of Health finds illegal tobacco sale to minor and sets September hearing on tightened tobacco rules. The two-member board — Kim Netter and Dominic Amirthraj — unanimously determined at its May 20 meeting that Bus Stop Variety at 121 Galen Street sold tobacco to an underage buyer, with tobacco control inspector Riley testifying she personally watched the minor enter and exit the store with a purchase. The board also heard a draft overhaul of the town's tobacco regulations that would permanently retire any permit not renewed within 30 days of expiration — a policy aimed at the chronic non-renewal problem that has already shrunk the active permit count from 36 in 2018 to 22 today. Health staff plan to post a near-final draft online by July 1 and hold a public hearing at the September 16 board meeting, ahead of the November 30 permit renewal deadline. The board separately approved BSL-2 biosafety permits for Camp Fort Therapeutics at 100 Talcott Avenue and Kentara Biosciences at 65 Grove Street, and granted keeping-of-hens variances to property owners at 179 Edenfield Avenue and 10 Jewett Street.