Conway staff asks commission whether to limit vape shops, payday lenders in Highway Commercial

Planning staff told the Conway Planning Commission on Nov. 6 that the city is exploring a comprehensive amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance to reconsider which uses should be permitted in the Highway Commercial (HC) district. Staff outlined several options: separate definitions for vape/smoke shops and alternative financial institutions, distance requirements from sensitive uses such as schools and churches, spacing or caps on the number of such stores, requiring conditional uses or special exceptions, or moving some uses into industrial districts.

"One idea that staff had was to remove those two uses from Highway Commercial districts only," staff said, noting that existing stores would become legal nonconforming and that, absent an ordinance to the contrary, a vape store that closes could be replaced at the same location unless there is a lapse of use for six months or longer.

Commissioners asked about Myrtle Beach's approach (including sunset clauses tied to business-license renewals), whether a special-exception approval runs with the land or the business, and how to balance economic rights with neighborhood protection. Several commissioners expressed a preference for conditional use or special-exception processes that allow public notice and case-specific scrutiny rather than an outright ban. Staff said it would return next month with a map of industrial areas, examples of sunset clauses and draft ordinance options for further discussion.