Vape limits
City considers population-based rules for allowing retail shops
Clinton wants to set a maximum number on how many vape shops would be allowed to operate within the city limits. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Council member Wendy Maness made a motion Nov. 24 to direct city staff to draft an ordinance that would limit vape shop density.
Council member David Queener seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Mayor Scott Burton was absent.
City Manager Roger Houck said the proposal will go to the Planning Commission first, likely in January.
“I have counted the vape stores down Charles Seivers,” Maness said. “There’s six within a mile, and that’s a lot.” She said several Clinton residents have told her they would prefer to see fewer such shops.
The issue was brought to the council’s attention by Clinton resident Shayla Wilson, executive director of Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention of Anderson County.
She noted that cities can use zoning codes to limit the density of specialty retail stores, including vape shops. She also suggested the city consider forming a regulatory board similar to the Clinton Beer Board.
Wilson said vape shops could be regulated based on the percentage of floor space they devote to vape-related products.
Such rules, she said, would not affect stores like gas stations, where vape items account for only a small portion of inventory.
Maness said she had not crafted an ordinance herself, but pointed to examples in other Tennessee cities, including Lebanon, that limit vape shop density based on population.
“It wouldn’t close any stores, but as they start to go out of business it would keep them from coming in and allow us to have a little bit more power,” she said.