Vape-, Smoke-Shop Ordinance To Be Read Monday In Haverford

HAVERFORD TOWNSHIP, PA — With residents in Haverford Township fed up over issues with vape and smoke shops, the Board of Commissioners Monday night will hold the first official reading of an ordinance that would limit the shops in certain ways.

Monday's meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Haverford Township Building, 1014 Darby Road in Havertown. It will be broadcast live on the Haverford Township government access channel, channel 5 on Comcast and channel 38 on Verizon.

Ordinance P-2024, if passed, would amend Chapters 47 and 182 in the township code for games of skill and significant tobacco retailers.

The ordinance would define "any retailer or wholesale establishment that devotes 10% or more of floor area or display area to, or maintains 20% or more of its total merchandise... for Tobacco Products, Vape Products, Delta-8 THC (or Delta-8-tetrahydrocannabinol), kratom, ingestible CBD/cannabidiol products, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS), and/or ENDS-related products and/or any materials that can be used in Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems" as a "significant tobacco retailer."

It also includes language that would require a 1,000-foot buffer between these retailers and places including but not limited to "public, private and parochial schools and day-care centers."

Additionally, hours of operation for these businesses would be limited to 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. under the ordinance.

Board of Commissioners President Larry Holmes said this is the administration's first attempt at "confining the proliferation" of smoke and vape shops.

Restrictions on vape and smoke shops are limited under state law, he said.
As for the games of skill, which are described similarly to casino slot machines, the ordinance would ban them in "significant tobacco retailers" and convenience stores.

The full ordinance is available to review online here.

A slew of residents came out against these businesses at a recent public hearing.

"We've made it easy for [kids] to access this," a local teacher said at the hearing.

One resident who lives next to a vape shop on Darby Road said he sees young people hiding behind his house, waiting for older friends to hook them up with products from the store.

"We need to start policing these vape shops," one longtime resident said. "It's a new addiction these kids are doing."