Hampton council takes first reading on zoning changes to define and regulate gas-station uses, hemp, tobacco and vape retailers

City staff presented the first reading of Ordinance 2026-11 at a June 9 public hearing before the City of Hampton mayor and council, proposing multiple amendments to zoning code language that would clarify and restrict where gas stations and several retail uses may operate.

Ms. Wanda, the staff presenter, told the council the proposal adds definitions for "automobile wash, the recycle wash system, hemp or cannabinoid retailer, tobacco retailer, or smoke shop, and vape shop" and inserts related use provisions previously omitted from code. She said some changes respond to an Environmental Protection Division request for updated car-wash code language and that the draft also limits coin-operated automated machines in station retail space to two.

The draft ordinance would bar hemp retailers, tobacco retailers and vape shops from certain residential districts and allow some of those retail uses in C2 and mixed-use areas only with conditional-use approval before the mayor and council. Ms. Wanda said the amendments are intended to clarify what each use means and to give the city regulatory controls (for example distance requirements from schools and day-care centers) rather than to eliminate such businesses from the community entirely.

Councilwoman DeShayne was identified in the staff presentation as having initiated the review and working with the legal team to add the new definitions. The public-comment portion produced no speakers for or against the ordinance during the hearing.

The hearing recorded this as a first reading; no council vote or final action on Ordinance 2026-11 appears in the transcript. The ordinance will remain in the council process for further consideration and any required subsequent readings.