Local zoning ordinances help define land use and help promote “smart growth” over time.  The Planning Departments in our local town, city, and county governments are where local zoning policies are studied and recommendations are made to their respective Planning Boards and then to the elected town, city, and county council members for discussion and final approval. 

Tobacco zoning  ordinances, then, spell out  local rules that control the location of new tobacco retail sales sites as part of implementing “smart growth” plans locally.  Tobacco zoning ordinances can also change the rules that currently allow existing tobacco retail sales sites to continue selling commercial tobacco products in certain locations – for example, limiting tobacco retail sales sites that are located in close proximity to schools and parks where underage youth gather.   

What happens then is that local governments are in charge of enforcing these ordinances  through their zoning and planning departments. Town, city, and county officials coordinate store inspections,  handle complaints, and make sure everyone follows the zoning rules. 

Under separate state and federal laws, if a store is caught selling commercial tobacco products (especially cigarettes, small cigars, and nicotine-containing vapes),  the store owner could face fines or lose  his or her local business license. 

So, local zoning ordinances are really needed now to  help control the availability of commercial tobacco products in  locations near  schools and parks, making it harder for kids to get their hands on them in the first place.  The epidemic of nicotine addiction in York County’s underage youth is continuing, having grown a lot through the COVID pandemic years. Ultimately, local zoning ordinances can be an important part of improving physical and mental health when individual households become nicotine-addiction-free, thus creating healthier neighborhoods and communities throughout our county.

In South Carolina, here are some common factors to consider as part of implementing “smart growth” when it comes to commercial tobacco products availability, minimizing youth nicotine addiction, and maximizing overall community health:

Distance from Schools: Many areas require that stores selling tobacco products are a certain distance away from schools. This keeps kids from seeing tobacco ads and makes it harder for them to buy these products.

Proximity to Other Stores: Some ordinances limit how close commercial tobacco products shops can be to each other. This prevents too many stores that sell tobacco products  from being in one area, especially in neighborhoods where research shows addiction to nicotine-containing tobacco products to be more prevalent.

Licensing Requirements: Unfortunately, there are no state laws or local business license structures in our state that require  special approval to sell tobacco products commercially.   In some other states, the towns, cities, and counties have passed tobacco retail licensing ordinances so they can  limit the number of these special licenses, and/or specify that  only certain types of stores can sell tobacco products (for example, no tobacco retail licenses will be offered at all to any pharmacy).  [Note: If South Carolina allowed tobacco retail licensing at the local level, this would ensure that knowing and following the rules would be much easier to enforce and thus be more effective.]

Zoning Districts: Certain areas, called zoning districts, may be set up where commercial tobacco products sales are either allowed or not allowed. For example, selling commercial tobacco products might be banned in residential neighborhoods but permitted in commercial zones.

Recent sociology research has proved the overall effectiveness of local zoning ordinances in  protecting underage youth from getting addicted to nicotine.   By keeping tobacco products away from places that youth  frequent, tobacco zoning ordinances provide important individual household and public health protection! 

For any questions, please email us on our website “Contact Us” page.  Also, stay tuned for announcements on our TFYCC social media of upcoming community education meetings in Rock Hill and Fort Mill this fall to advocate for local tobacco retail sales zoning ordinances throughout our county!