Fayetteville, NC wants to limit vape shops, require a special permit and see them gone by 2017

[hoogie76]

Hearing is Monday, December 8th at 7pm.

https://cityoffayetteville.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Click on Agenda.pdf and section 7.02 has additional links.

If passed, this would protect tobacco shops but force e-cig shops and head shops to require special permits and close down by December 31, 2017.

Hoog

 

[Kent C]

Hearing is Monday, December 8th at 7pm.

https://cityoffayetteville.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Click on Agenda.pdf and section 7.02 has additional links.

If passed, this would protect tobacco shops but force e-cig shops and head shops to require special permits and close down by December 31, 2017.

Hoog

(if passed) ... The 'close down by Dec. 31, 2017' part could be a 'taking' as outlined in the 5th amendment (I say 'could' because the 'public use' aspect isn't direct as say taking it to build a post office - but the 'purpose stated' - to enhance the city, blah, blah, certainly is for the gov't purpose not a commercial purpose). Suggest anyone involved contact "Institute for Justice" who routinely takes up these types of cases. They stopped Donald Trump from building a parking lot in a neighbor near this Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic city (which he has since sold, iirc).

The Institute for Justice

 

[Placebo Effect]

Edit: Wrong legal interpretation on my part.

 

[squee]

According to the proposal, vape shops and head shops that are located in the Downtown District would have to close/move by end of 2017. Which makes sense if you read the initial proposal for this - this all came from the city's Police Chief

Executive Summary:
A little over a year ago, Fayetteville's Police Chief asked that City Council look at amending our City Code to better regulate the placement of retail stores that specialize mainly in the sale of tobacco and tobacco related products. The City of Greenville, North Carolina had just amended its Zoning Ordinance in February of 2013 to better regulate these types of uses. Greenville's ordinance was then used as a starting point for our proposed amendments.

Since May of this year the Planning Commission has held three public hearings and discussed this issue at two additional meetings. Many changes have been made to the attached ordinance including separation distances, amortization, hours of operation, Special Use Permits and signage.


Background:
Why is the City looking to regulate the location of tobacco oriented business? During a twenty-two (22) month period between January of 2012 and November 2013 these business generated over 13,000 calls for service (CFS) from the City's Police Department. Ten of these locations accounted for over 50% of these calls by themselves. The calls received around these establishments run the gamut from petty crimes to felonies. Many of these establishments are also located at the entrance to or within very close proximity to residential developments.

Currently there are 60+ establishments in Fayetteville that could qualify as a tobacco oriented business. The attached map represents the locations of each such shop in the City, with stars depicting those located within the DT and NC Districts. Some roads and intersections have a clustering of these types of businesses. For instance, one can see five such shops from the intersection of Cliffdale and Reilly Roads.

Distribution of calls for service by shop classifications
The following information lists the classifications, the number of establishments in each classification in parentheses, and the percent of total calls for service. As can be seen, Class 2 and Class 3 shops account for 98% of the CFS.

Cigar Bar/Lounge: (3) ~1% CFS
Hookah Bar: (2) <1 CFS
Class 1: (1) <1% CFS
Class 2: (33) 40% CFS
Class 3: (22) 58% CFS.

 

[DaveP]

Either there's a problem with such shops and they aren't true vape shops or the city is doing its part to support North Carolina's position of supporting the tobacco industry and helping to eliminate competition from vaping. Why would vape shops create an undue number of police calls than a standard tobacco shop? Maybe they are attracting an unsavory crowd to the alternate products they sell. Go figure.

 

[Placebo Effect]

According to the proposal, vape shops and head shops that are located in the Downtown District would have to close/move by end of 2017. Which makes sense if you read the initial proposal for this - this all came from the city's Police Chief

You are correct. My mistake.

 

[rothenbj]

The latest which doesn't give a lot of information other than the delay until January- Fayetteville, N.C. Delays Vote on Tobacco Store Restrictions, Again | halfwheel

Now Fayetteville isn't your typical 200,000 population city. It had a bad reputation for crime when I was stationed there in the early 70s and my gf's son is being headquartered there this January and looking for something well away from the city due to the reports they've received about the area. I'm guessing the hours of operation have more to do with their crime problem than the tobacco specialty stores.

 

[Bill Godshall]

I suspect that many/most tobacco retailers in downtown Fayetteville also sell beer, wine and liquor, and are typically referred to as "liquor stores" or "bars".

In many/most cities, a significant percentage of police calls are at "liquor stores and bars" in low income sections. So it appears that the police chief (who is likely an ANTZ) is trying to blame tobacco sales for problems caused by alcohol, drunks and those who hang out at seedy bars (including drug dealers, bookies, pimps, prostitutes, etc.). And I wouldn't be surprised if many/most of these tobacco/alcohol establishments in Fayetteville are in black neighborhoods.

Here in PA, those places are referred to as "nuisance bars".

But please note that there are ANTZ who are trying to reduce the number of tobacco retailers (who stupidly believe that tobacco use can be reduced by half if they pass laws reducing the number of tobacco retailers by half).

Two weeks ago, I spoke to Allison E. Myers at CounterTools.org, which is campaigning in NC and other states to reduce tobacco retailers and to impose lots of unwarranted restrictions on tobacco retailers (in an attempt to make their lives miserable and drive them out of business).
Counter Tools

Here is one of Allison's blog postings
Motivating a tobacco endgame: evidence or innovation | allisonemyers

I spent an hour explaining to Allison that banning tobacco sales at pharmacies and universities, banning tobacco retailers within 500 feet of schools, parks, playgrounds and churches, and/or restricting the number of tobacco retailer permits does nothing to reduce smoking or tobacco use, but rather just benefits all other competitor tobacco retailers nearby. But Allison has drank the tobacco controllers End Game koolaid, and idealistically believes that she is saving humanity by fighting the evil tobacco industry.

Last week, the San Francisco (CA) Bord of Supervisors passed a law to reduce number of tobacco and e-cig retailers by half, which only benefits retailers who keep selling tobacco and/or e-cigs.
SF approves 50 percent reduction in tobacco-selling stores | Government & Politics | San Francisco | San Francisco Examiner

 

[Kent C]

ILast week, the San Francisco (CA) Bord of Supervisors passed a law to reduce number of tobacco and e-cig retailers by half, which only benefits retailers who keep selling tobacco and/or e-cigs.
SF approves 50 percent reduction in tobacco-selling stores | Government & Politics | San Francisco | San Francisco Examiner

And the Bored of Supervisors could target ecig dominant stores as well. Might be interesting about how they go about that. Although it may be more about campaign contributions than anything else.

 

[Moedog]

This is hilarious. Fayetteville is known throughout the Carolinas as Sin City. Just full of strip joints, rowdy bars, adult peep shows, etc,, and an extremely high crime rate, and they're worrying about vape shops. Ridiculous...

 

[Petrodus]

This is hilarious. Fayetteville is known throughout the Carolinas as Sin City. Just full of strip joints, rowdy bars, adult peep shows, etc,, and an extremely high crime rate, and they're worrying about vape shops. Ridiculous...

 

[Kent C]

Welcome back!!

 

[rothenbj]

This is hilarious. Fayetteville is known throughout the Carolinas as Sin City. Just full of strip joints, rowdy bars, adult peep shows, etc,, and an extremely high crime rate, and they're worrying about vape shops. Ridiculous...

Thanks, that pretty well explains it. When I was stationed there, we were prohibited from going into town. Sounds like not much changed.