AIKEN — The Aiken County Planning Commission is involved in a process to develop proposed amendments to the Aiken County Code of Ordinances concerning the location of smoke or vape shops.
Based on a drafts prepared by county staff, such businesses couldn’t be established within 500 feet of a public or private K-12 school, child day care facility, youth center, recreational facility, church or religious institution, public park or community center.
In addition, a smoke or vape shop couldn’t be located within 1,500 feet of another smoke or vape shop.
The Planning Commission discussed the proposed amendments for the first time during a meeting June 19 at the Aiken County Government Center and decided they would like to obtain more information before moving forward.
Some members had questions that the county’s Chief Development Officer, Joel Duke, told them could be answered better by County Attorney Brad Farrar, who wasn’t present at the meeting.
“This is intended to be a jumping off point,” Duke said. “It is not intended to be necessarily the final action or recommendation by this body.”
He also made some suggestions about the next steps the Planning Commission could take.
The panel unanimously approved a motion by its vice chair, Liz Stewart, to ask county staff to “research some of the concerns that were brought up and confer with our county attorney to see what other parameters we may use … before we schedule a public hearing.”
Duke told the Planning Commission that county staff prepared the drafts after South Aiken High School Principal Sam Fuller spoke to County Council in April and asked restrictions be placed on the location of vape shops in proximity to schools.
In February 2024, County Council had received a letter signed by Fuller and other high school principals in the county making the same request.
The letter stated that they wanted to “express concern over the rampant use of various vaping products by Aiken County students.”
