First permit denied
Clinton’s new vape board puts specialty-shop ordinance into action
The former More to Life Outfitters building at 927 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd. was the proposed location of a new tobacco and vape shop. The Clinton Vape Board unanimously denied a permit for the business Monday, July 27, citing the city’s recently adopted ordinance limiting the number of specialty vape and tobacco shops. (photo:Ben Pounds )
The board, composed of all members of the Clinton City Council, met Monday, July 27, and voted to deny a permit for Ali Abdurrahman, Tobacco and Vape, to operate at 927 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd., the former site of More to Life Outfitters.
The vote to deny the permit was unanimous, although Councilman Matt Foster was absent.
The decision was in keeping with the city’s ordinance, passed June 22, allowing only one specialty vape shop per 10,000 residents. Clinton’s current population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 10,056.
City building official Matt Widner explained at the meeting that the city’s nine existing vape specialty shops may continue to operate because they opened before the ordinance was passed. Any new shops are subject to the ordinance.
The zoning ordinance defines “specialty shops” as stores dedicating 25% or more of their floor space to “electronic cigarettes/vaping devices, e-liquids/cartridges, edibles, concentrates or oil containing cannabis derivatives (including but not limited to CBD, Delta-8, Delta-9 or similar compounds permitted by law), kratom, glassware, pipes, vaporizers and other smoking or inhalation devices.”
