Tobacco Free Brevard urges zoning, retailer limits to curb youth vaping
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Summary
Tobacco Free Brevard presented county data showing concentrated retail marketing near schools and parks and proposed zoning and retailer-density limits to reduce youth exposure to tobacco and vaping products.
Elizabeth Bublitz, tobacco policy manager for Tobacco Free Brevard, told the Brevard TIP on Monday that the partnership’s countywide data show retail marketing as a major driver of tobacco and vaping among young people and that zoning is a practical tool to reduce exposure. "Point of sale is actually where you are shopping and where a lot of the tobacco products are marketed towards our youth," Bublitz said.
Bublitz said the group has documented 1,073 locations in Brevard County that sell tobacco products and about 484 retailers located within 1,000 feet of a school or public park. She said youth access and marketing at checkout — the so-called "power wall" — helps explain why "1 in 10 youth vapes" locally and why many adult smokers first tried tobacco before age 18.
Tobacco Free Brevard’s work dates to 2021 and uses a national data platform, Counter Tools, to map hotspots and retail placement. The partnership has trained youth SWAT teams who conduct surveys and public outreach, and Bublitz said the group will bring interactive hotspot maps to local decision-makers. She noted models in other states and suggested local zoning limits on retailer density near schools and parks as one option.
During questions, Bublitz said the county is not a "tobacco swamp" by the three-retailers-per-1,000-residents definition but flagged several municipalities (Cocoa Beach, Cocoa, Palm Shores, Indian Harbour Beach) as high-density areas. She said Tobacco Free Brevard will share source data from BRFSS and the Florida Tobacco Youth Survey and invited partners to the group’s next meeting and provided brochures.
The presentation prompted requests for additional breakdowns — age bands for youth vaping, comparisons across Florida’s 67 counties, and data on marijuana and delta-8/9/10 products sold at retail — which Bublitz said she would follow up on or refer to content experts. She also said the Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida provides contract support for the county program.
Next steps outlined by Bublitz included producing interactive maps for local officials, continued youth-led surveillance, and exploring zoning-based options to limit how many retailers can operate in defined school/park buffers.