Smoke shops could get zoning protection—but a new license holder couldn’t inherit it

Lawfully established smoke shops and massage businesses that miss Sandy Springs’ proposed location rules could keep operating—but that protection would not pass to a new business-license holder under a revised plan headed to a Nov. 17 public hearing.⁠[1]

The new license language targets legal nonconforming uses: businesses allowed to continue despite not meeting the zoning rules. For those smoke shops and massage establishments, the draft would prohibit issuing a license to anyone other than the holder in place when the property became nonconforming. Existing operators also could not expand their floor area, and any relocation would have to meet the new standards.⁠[1]

Our earlier report on half-mile buffers and vape limits described an ownership-change provision requiring zoning verification. After commissioners asked what would happen when businesses changed hands, staff moved the ownership provisions into the code’s nonconforming-use section. The council draft now expressly bars continuation by a new license holder.⁠[1][2]

According to the city’s Nov. 5 staff report, the Planning Commission recommended the massage provisions 4–0 and the smoke-shop provisions 3–1 on Oct. 21, while requesting clarifications. Those were recommendations, not council adoption; the revised amendment, TA-26-3, is now before the mayor and City Council.⁠[1]

For new smoke shops, the draft retains half-mile separation from existing smoke shops or establishments selling the defined smoke-shop products, plus 1,000-foot buffers from schools, public parks, daycares, housing, specified residential zoning districts and places of worship. The half-mile wording still does not expressly distinguish retailers with only incidental tobacco sales.⁠[1]

Vaping products would be limited to 25% of retail-display floor area and inventory, with annual sales certification required. Smoke-shop hours would be 7 a.m.–9 p.m.; on-site consumption and lounges would be prohibited unless separately authorized by the code. General retailers selling tobacco incidentally would remain outside the smoke-shop classification, but their floor area for related products would be capped at 2% or 200 square feet, whichever is smaller.⁠[1]

Massage establishments would face half-mile spacing from one another and 1,000-foot buffers from schools, daycares, housing, specified residential districts and places of worship. Staff says the proposed 8 a.m.–8 p.m. hours match existing city business regulations and apply to operations not specifically exempt. Certain incidental massage services at medical facilities, hotels with at least 75 rooms and health clubs of at least 10,000 square feet could qualify for exemptions, subject to licensing, entrance, signage and floor-area conditions.⁠[1]

The Nov. 17 council meeting is scheduled to follow the work session in the Studio Theatre at City Hall, 1 Galambos Way. The amendment is listed as public-hearing item 2026-301.⁠[1]