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Planning staff outlines UDO text amendments to tighten tobacco, vape and CBD retail rules
Summary
Planning staff summarized proposed UDO amendments for City Council that would clarify convenience-store and refueling definitions, retain a 'primarily' standard for tobacco retail classification, add spacing and visibility requirements for tobacco/Hookah retail, and standardize gas-station categories.
Planning staff briefed the Board May 12 on proposed text amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance related to tobacco, vape, hemp and CBD retail establishments, which staff planned to present to City Council on May 19.
Director Elizabeth Blount and Planner I Abbey described key changes: removal of the previously proposed convenience-store size threshold (less than 2,000 square feet); retention of a provision that limits tobacco and related products to the lesser of 5% or 500 square feet so an outlet can be reclassified as a tobacco retail establishment; and use of the term "primarily"—recommended by the UNC School of Government—to give staff greater flexibility and legal defensibility when assessing whether an establishment operates principally as tobacco retail.
Staff also proposed clarifying two gas-station categories—"Automobile Service Station" (routine vehicle maintenance) and "Refueling Station" (dispensing flammable liquids, combustible gases, or electricity)—updates to the table of uses, 2,000-foot spacing requirements for hookah and tobacco retail from schools and similar facilities and from like establishments, and a visibility requirement keeping street-level windows unobstructed for tobacco retail.
Director Blount told the Board that if City Council adopts the amendments, future convenience-store uses on MLK Boulevard (if rezoned to B-1) would be subject to the new supplemental regulations and effectively precluded from operating as tobacco retail establishments under the updated standards.
The Board expressed satisfaction with the revisions and staff will present the amendments to City Council on May 19.
