North Carolina County to Restrict Tobacco Shops

The Columbus County Board of Commissioners in North Carolina is slated to vote on a proposed ordinance restricting locations of retailers selling tobacco, hemp and kratom during its meeting Monday.

At the board’s previous meeting, Commission Chair Ricky Bullard said he wanted to restrict the locations of new shops “the maximum amount we can.”

The current proposal requires a much wider distance between retailers and places used by minors than a version of the ordinance discussed on Nov. 4, according to media reports.

The expanded ordinance would also set a four-year deadline for retailers already in business to move out of the protected zones. If passed, the vape shop regulation would only affect unincorporated areas of the county.

The board tabled discussion Nov. 4 of an earlier vape shop ordinance, saying it didn’t go far enough. That proposal defined the targeted products and prohibited retail shops selling them from opening within 1,000 feet of schools, child care centers, public parks, group homes or rehabilitation facilities.

Commissioner Giles “Buddy” Byrd called the 1,000-foot barrier “not enough” and asked county staff to rewrite the ordinance to expand it to at least half a mile. County Planning and Economic Development Director Gary Lanier’s new recommendation does just that, setting 2,640 feet as the nearest a vape, tobacco or hemp shop may set up from one of the listed areas.

Lanier also based the new recommendation on ordinances in other eastern N.C. counties that “amortize” the right of existing shops to operate. The new wording would require existing tobacco and hemp retailers to move outside the half-mile boundary within four years.