Mount Pleasant moves to keep vape shops 1,000 feet from schools, parks and churches

Mount Pleasant is moving to limit where smoke and vape shops can open.

Town Council voted unanimously at a special meeting on Nov. 2 to give first-reading approval to an ordinance that would require vape stores to stay at least 1,000 feet from public and private K-12 schools, child care centers, youth centers, recreational facilities, parks, churches and community centers, WCIV reported. The distance is measured from the property line.

The vote followed objections from parents and school officials to a proposed smoke and vape shop at 709 Coleman Blvd., about 0.2 miles from Moultrie Middle School. The shop applied on Oct. 1 for five illuminated signs advertising vaping products, CBD, hookah, cigars and kratom, WCIV reported. On Oct. 28, the town’s Design Review Board declined to approve the signs. Under the proposed rule, the shop would be too close to the school and to a church across the street, according to WCIV.

The town has had no distance requirement. Its Planning Department classifies vape shops as retail businesses allowed in retail zones, WCIV reported in October. Mayor Will Haynie said then that the town had concluded state law would not allow an outright local ban.

The draft ordinance, which WCIV published, defines a smoke or vape shop as a business selling tobacco, vape products, e-cigarettes, synthetic cannabinoids or tobacco paraphernalia. Grocery and convenience stores are exempt if those products make up less than half of their gross retail sales. The draft also bars a new shop within 1,500 feet of another one, though WCIV’s report on the vote put that spacing at 1,000 feet.

Existing shops inside the buffer would have until Jan. 1, 2032, to comply or stop operating, according to the draft.

“Nobody wants these products to get into the hands of children,” Councilman Daniel Brownstein said, according to WCIV. He said amendments at the final vote could add products such as kratom.

Mount Pleasant is the 16th South Carolina municipality to approve limits on where vape shops can locate, according to the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, WCIV reported. Myrtle Beach keeps smoke shops 1,500 feet from schools, parks and churches, and Columbia requires 1,000 feet from schools and other sites, WCIV reported.

The Nov. 2 vote was the first of two. The ordinance now goes to the Planning Commission before returning to Town Council for the second and final vote, WCIV reported. The draft says it takes effect on final reading.