Baltimore council advances smoke shop zoning bill to protect youth

Baltimore’s effort to rein in smoke shops took a major step Thursday as the City Council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee advanced a zoning bill that would push stores farther apart and away from youth-focused spaces. The measure would require smoke shops to sit at least 750 feet from one another and 750 feet from schools, parks and recreation centers, putting the city on a tighter course as officials try to slow what they describe as a rapid spread of tobacco and vape retailers.

If the full council approves the proposal, existing shops that do not meet the new standards would have two years to relocate. The bill would also create a formal land-use category for smoke shops, defining them as businesses that devote at least 10% of their floor area to tobacco, vaping or cannabis-related products. In commercial and mixed-use districts, that category would make smoke shops conditional uses, meaning they would need approval from the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals before opening.

The proposal is aimed at neighborhoods where shop density is already high. Baltimore officials say the city has more than 1,200 licensed tobacco retailers, about 15 shops per square mile. A Baltimore City Health Department report cited by WYPR found five times more tobacco retailers per square mile in the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods than in its highest-income neighborhoods, a disparity that gives the bill its most immediate public-health argument and its sharpest political edge.

Council President Zeke Cohen has called the spread of illegal smoke shops a public emergency, saying the products are being marketed to children and can harm young brains. The push comes after a broader three-part smoke shop package introduced in late October 2025, which included an informational hearing, the zoning and use standards bill, and a separate display luminance bill aimed at limiting bright window displays and exterior lighting.

The bill was shaped in part by Baltimore’s 2025 small-box store ordinance and by restrictions used in Prince George’s County. For shop owners, the new rules could redraw the commercial map around busy corridors and neighborhood blocks, especially in places like Federal Hill, where Abdul Alakhfash of Tobacco House and Gifts backed the spacing requirement and said the density of nearby shops has hurt his business. For residents, school communities and recreation centers, the biggest change would be fewer tobacco outlets clustered within walking distance of children, and for existing retailers that fall short of the new standards, the clock would start running as soon as the bill becomes law.