‘A quality of life issue.’ Midlands city moves to restrict where vape, smoke shops operate
West Columbia wants to limit where vape and smoke shops can open and how they can advertise in a move similar to Midlands neighbors Forest Acres and Columbia.
The city is considering an ordinance that would restrict where vape and smoke shops and hookah lounges can open – barring the businesses from opening within a certain distance of residential areas, other smoke shops, schools and churches. The rule received unanimous initial approval from City Council on Tuesday and must pass through a second reading before it goes into effect.
The ordinance aims to prohibit the use of LED accent lights and also restrict how the businesses can advertise. It would ban the use of words or images of “illicit substances” on business signage.
It’s not the first time the issue has come up at City Hall. An astronaut mural on the side of Planet Vapor, a smoke shop along Sunset Boulevard, drew the ire of council members in the summer as they discussed setting up a program to fund the creation of more public art in the city.
The new West Columbia rules would require the businesses to be at least 1,000 feet away from residential areas, schools, libraries and playgrounds. And the shops couldn’t be within 500 feet of another vape or smoke shop.
“It’s a quality of life issue,” Councilman George Crowe said, adding that the effort is meant to preserve the city’s commercial space and encourage a variety of business types.
The city council is considering adding provisions to the ordinance to require ID card checks for entry in an effort to curb the use of vapes among kids. Nationally, around 6% of middle and high school students reported using e-cigarettes in 2024, an almost 2% dip from 2023.
“One of the biggest things I’ve seen with these businesses is a lot of underage individuals coming in with nobody checking [their] IDs,” Councilman Jimmy Brooks said.
The ID requirement isn’t on the proposed ordinance, but with the newly proposed rules moved to a second reading, the City Council could amend or add additional rules later down the line.
Other council members said passing an ordinance like this is important to them so the city doesn’t get overrun with vape shops. Some said they’d seen as many as eight shops pop up in a one-mile radius.
“It was a joke for a while where someone would say, ‘Oh, there’s a new business opening. Oh, wait, it’s another vape shop,’” Councilwoman Sarah Mattern said.
The rule is also meant to combat the practice of vape shop owners targeting West Columbia, since neighboring municipalities have tightened regulations, making it harder to open stores.
“I just want to make sure we’re in line with those other cities around us and not be the outlier,” Brooks said.
The move would make it more difficult to open a new vape or smoke shop in West Columbia, but as the rules stand, already existing businesses would be grandfathered in. The ordinance follows close behind the one in Forest Acres, which passed in November, and the one in Columbia in early 2023. This year, Columbia’s city council considered adding provisions to restrict how vape and smoke shops advertise, but has not come to a consensus on the issue.
The city likely won’t take up the measure for a second reading until the beginning of the new year, staff said during the meeting.
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 8:56 AM.
