Tobacco, Smoke, or Vape Ordinance Adopted by Town Council

After a long journey involving the efforts of staff and the consideration of the Front Royal Planning Commission, the Town Council adopted an ordinance to regulate tobacco, smoke, or vape shops at their meeting on the evening of Monday, February 24, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Warren County Government Center at 220 North Commerce Avenue. This item had come before them at a previous meeting, at which point Mayor Lori Cockrell expressed that the text still needed work; so, what finally came before them on Monday night represented the zenith to which Town Attorney George Sonnett and Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke had gone in preparing the document and facilitating discussion at the commission level. All voted in favor of the ordinance except for Vice Mayor Amber Veitenthal.

Town Council anticipates a regular meeting on the evening of Monday, February 24. Royal Examiner Photo Credits: Brenden McHugh.

The ordinance features two regulatory mechanisms, by right and special-use permit. The former would be administrative, with staff enforcing it. It would apply to any establishment, a gas station, for instance, that sells “even a leaf of tobacco,” as Kopishke once put it at a commission meeting. The latter would be appropriate in the case that the sale of such products reaches a threshold of twenty-five percent of the inventory or fifteen percent or more of the store’s total display area. There may be some instances under both headings in which it is appropriate for the council to enforce a one-thousand-foot distance between such stores and any daycare center or private, public, or parochial school. This is in keeping with the desire of the council to maintain safety, health, and welfare for this community, especially as those values relate to the youth in Front Royal. As future councils engage on this issue, necessity might also be a value worth considering.

After leading the gathering in the pledge of allegiance, Emalyn Wines stands with Mayor Lori Cockrell, receiving recognition and a gift certificate for her patriotism.

In the interest of a free market, Veitenthal explained the rationale for her dissenting vote. The ordinance as it now stands, she argued, is the germinal phase of a wider involvement of the government in the market. Too many bookstores? Too many Starbucks? Those businesses could come under the regulation of a future council and in some instances be stymied at birth. She pointed to the correction the free market has recently made since these discussions began, in which several tobacco, smoke, or vape shops have closed down. This is proof, in her view, that the free market can correct itself without governmental intervention. Other council members thanked the planning commission for their arduous work and commented that this ordinance had been long in the making. In past discussions, Veitenthal herself admitted that the proliferation of these shops is a real problem. While sharing the same philosophy with her colleagues, her policy application is somewhat different.

In honor of Global Day of Unplugging, on which citizens of Warren County will be encouraged to take a break from their devices from sundown March 7 to sundown March 8, Celeste Brooks, on behalf of the Warren Coalition, accepts recognition from Mayor Lori Cockrell after a proclamation honoring the coalition’s work.

After voting to rezone property on West Strasburg Road from commercial to residential, passing two good housekeeping measures, conducting reports, and passing a consent agenda at which point the mayor remarked that the planning commission and the Local Board of Building Code Appeals are now full, the council voted in favor of vacating a portion of Kibler Street with the negotiation of the sale of that portion to be voted on at a future meeting and then proceeded to go into closed session. After coming out of closed, the mayor read the following announcement: “Pursuant to §2-2.3712 (B) of the Code of Virginia, during the next fifteen (15) days from today, February 24, 2025, Council may be interviewing candidates for the Town Manager position at an undisclosed location within the Town.”

Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lauren Kopishke explains the finer points of a rezoning application to the council.

Click here to watch the February 24, 2025, Town Council Meeting.