DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After closing time was bumped up an hour earlier for Daytona Beach bars, it could also come earlier for hookah lounges in the city. There's an ordinance set for a first reading in Wednesday's commission meeting at 6 p.m.

What You Need To Know

  •  Wednesday's Daytona Beach City Commission meeting will feature a first reading of a proposal to limit hookah lounge hours

  • The ordinance would require hookah lounges close at 2 a.m., as bars do  

  •  The idea comes after a 21-year-old was shot to death outside a hookah lounge 

If passed, the ordinance would move closing time to 2 a.m., like it did for bars. That’s a blow to business, says a couple of hookah lounge owners opposing the idea. The co-owners of Follow The Smoke say they get a lot of business from people who leave the bars after they close.

The proposal comes after a 21-year-old was shot to death outside another hookah lounge.

“I just want the city to look at things in a different way. Don’t look at all the businesses in the same way because it’s not run by the same owner,” Sunil Kumar said.

“Someone’s mistake or some other place that has some violence has nothing to do with us. We came from nothing, and we put all our money into this place to give something to the community that we are hearing,” Richu Jacob said.

There will be two readings before any potential passage of the ordinance. Spectrum News 13 reached out to commissioners for a comment and heard only from Ken Strickland; he declined to comment on the way he would vote on the matter.