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By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Smoke shops and cannabis dispensaries have become a common sight in many Duke City shopping centers, but city leaders may soon make that boom go up in smoke. Concerned about the increasing concentration of 21-and-over shops, a city councilor is proposing new zoning rules that would limit how many nicotine and cannabis shops can open in the same area to prevent them from taking over neighborhood shopping centers.
Ordinance O-26-39, sponsored by Councilor Renée Grout, would update the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance to address what Grout told City Desk was a cleanup from the last major update that left out certain requirements. The proposal would treat smoke shops similarly to cannabis dispensaries by setting distance requirements between businesses and limiting where new nicotine retailers can locate near schools and day care centers. Existing businesses would not be affected. The measure is scheduled for a committee hearing June 10. “It basically treats smoke shops as an extension of cannabis shops,” Grout said.
Future smoke shops that primarily sell nicotine products would face tighter location and operating rules under the proposed ordinance. New smoke shops could not open within 660 feet of a cannabis dispensary, must stay 1,320 feet apart from each other and must be at least 330 feet from schools or child day care centers. The proposal would also ban these businesses from designated Main Street corridors and live-work dwellings and prohibit drive-through windows. Inside the shops, paraphernalia could not be displayed within 5 feet of a window or door. Shops within 500 feet of a residential zone or a residence in a mixed-use district would also be prohibited from allowing customer visits or deliveries between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. “We have instances where there are strip malls with multiple smoke shops and a cannabis store,” Grout said. “I don’t think that neighborhoods imagined that these types of businesses would be so concentrated.
Grout said the rules would only apply to future dedicated smoke shops and would not affect existing stores, grocery stores or gas stations. According to the ordinance, nicotine retail as an accessory use in general retail or grocery stores would be limited to no more than 50% of the store’s floor area. In mixed-use zoning districts (MX-T and MX-L), nicotine retailers would be capped at 10,000 square feet.
Grout said the council has not received much feedback on the proposal so far, which is why it is being sent to committee to give the public more time to weigh in. The Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee will meet virtually via Zoom at 5 p.m. June 10. Residents who want to provide public comment must sign up online by 3:30 p.m. the day of the meeting.
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