Companies might have a difficult time opening new vape shops in Macon under new restrictions passed Monday by the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission.
With a solid endorsement from the county health administrator, commissioners voted unanimously to limit placement of shops to at least a half-mile from any school, daycare, place where children gather, or another legally-defined vape store that sells alternative nicotine products, consumable vapor and vapor devices.
The amendment to the Comprehensive Land Development Resolution will not apply to the existing 38 shops that P&Z staff documented during a nearly three-month moratorium on new shops that allowed for further study.
“Existing vape shops will be considered legally non-conforming, and can remain in operation as long as they are there. Should those businesses choose to relocate, close, change use, they will be subject to the new rules and regulations,” P&Z Executive Director Jeff Ruggieri said.
The county currently has 117 businesses licensed to sell CBD, which gives them the ability to sell vaping products, but only those 38 opted to do so, Ruggieri said.
The law change also prohibits vape shops in residential and light commercial zones.
“They can only occur in our most intensive commercial districts, C-2 and C-4, and also our light industrial, both M-1 and M-2, and special commercial districts,” Ruggieri said.
P&Z’s amendment also defines vape shops as any store getting at least 35% of its sales from vaping products or that dedicates 35% percent of its space to those items.
Health Department Administrator Dr. Jimmie Smith said the law change aligns with their mission and has the support of the Bibb County School District.
“It certainly supports the baseline document that we use for health across the nation, which is called Healthy People 2030,” Smith said. “It also aligns with our North Central Health District efforts to curtail tobacco use in any form, and with that, it also supports the Bibb County School District policy of having a 100% no smoking policy on their campus.”
P&Z created an online map of existing vape shops noting all childcare facilities registered with the health department, schools and other establishments that care for youth.
Ruggieri said P&Z staff will update the map quarterly so that they will have accurate information when considering new vape shop applications.
Truck congestion, deed dilemma, historic district compliance
Due to concerns about increased truck traffic on Cavalier Drive, P&Z Chair Jeane Easom wants to see new plans before commissioners vote on a proposed truck parking lot on Jan. 26.
Advanced Development Group plans an 88-space parking lot for tractor trailers on over 21 acres at 4400 Cavalier Drive. By law, truckers are restricted on how many hours they can drive a day and are required to park and rest, but a shortage of lots has many drivers parking on interstate exit ramps in Georgia.
Although the lot is needed, commissioners are concerned about traffic safety, primarily due to the proximity of Mount de Sales Academy’s Cavalier Fields athletic complex.
“My son is going to be 16 in a month, and he drives over there multiple times a week,” Commissioner Mindy Attaway said.
The Middle Georgia Regional Commission’s review of the Development of Regional Impact, or DRI, also shared concerns from Mount de Sales.
“We are increasingly concerned about safety, especially with hundreds of our students and families traveling through the area each day,” the statement read. “Without enhancements we worry that preventable accidents may become more likely, and we want to be proactive in ensuring the well-being of our community.”
The Georgia Department of Transportation called for a traffic study considering the impact of large trucks regularly leaving Interstate 475 and turning onto Cavalier Drive to determine if intersection improvements are needed.
Commissioners want developers to limit trucks to the north side of Cavalier Drive off of Thomaston Road, away from the athletic complex. When P&Z meets again in two weeks, they want to see a site plan that reflects the right-only exit from the parking lot.
On the north side of town, commissioners also deferred a rezoning request and conditional use application for a new senior citizen group home proposed for 2.26 acres at 3980 Elnora Drive, across from The Wellness Center.
Widner & Associates seeks rezoning from agricultural to multi-family residential and presented plans for a 42,000-square-foot building with 50 beds for independent living, assisted living and memory care.
Marcus Lucas spoke against the project, which he said was proposed for land he owns and has not sold, despite a deed to the contrary recorded in Bibb Superior Court on Oct. 14.
Commissioners deferred the matter for two weeks for the parties to sort out the legal ownership of the property.
P&Z also cleared the way for new homes to be built in former manufacturing, light industrial districts by rezoning four parcels not far from Cliffview Lake Park to single-family residential.
P&Z’s Assistant Executive Director Randi Doveton said under zoning changes made in 2024, residential uses are no longer permitted in the M-1 district, even if the area already is predominantly residential. To clear up manufacturing districts left over from the 50s, staff initiated its own application to rezone vacant lots at 3905 Antioch and the 500 block of Rutherford Ave. to R-1, which allows for homes to be built.
In the Vineville Historic District, P&Z and its Design Review Board, (DRB), has dealt with property owner Marvin Peavy’s violations dating back to the summer of 2024.
Monday’s hearings finally brought resolution to issues related to multiple apartment complexes, including 2056 Vineville Ave., where Peavy failed to get a permit and replaced three-tab roof shingles with unauthorized metal roofing materials and installed vinyl windows.
A court ruled Peavy only has to replace the roofing on the apartment building visible from Vineville, and DRB decided he can place aluminum grids over the vinyl windows to replicate the original look.
He must also reduce the size of a “Macon Old English” apartment sign to 10 square feet and only 6 feet tall.
P&Z also accepted DRB’s recommendation for Peavy’s apartments at 185 Oak Haven Ave. They will allow aluminum grates over prohibited vinyl windows Peavy also installed there without permission. His sign on that property also has to be reduced to meet size requirements.
At Peavy’s apartments at 2020 Vineville Ave., he failed to get approval for two signs, one on the building and one in the yard, but regulations only permit one sign and both that are currently up exceed the size limit.
Peavy’s attorney Will Larsen said his client wanted to keep the sign on the building but applied for a variance for larger than 10 square feet, so that it can be easily read from the road.
Commissioners approved the sign on the building, but only if it meets the requirement limiting it to 10 square feet.
“I am not interested in giving him a variance when he can work within the guidelines,” Easom said. “Whether he wants to put it on the wall or whether he wants to put it in the yard, doesn’t make any difference to me, so long as it’s within the sign regulations.”
Other agenda items
- 4706 Raley Drive — P&Z granted Widner & Associates’ request to rezone five acres from multi-family residential to a planned development – single use district. The developer originally planned 12 duplexes for the Ma Umiya Community next to the Shree Umiya Mataji Mandir Temple, but lot owners preferred to have 18 single-family dwellings of about 2,000 square feet. The rezoning was necessary to increase the square footage of the homes and reduce required distances from the property lines.
- 856, 854 First St. — P&Z approved new signage for Eyesight Associates, but noted the free-standing signs must meet requirements of the Macon-Bibb County Engineering Department.
- 2619 Suwanee Ave. — P&Z approved Rafael Garzon’s design changes after the DRB initially denied his after-the-fact application in November due to conflicts with historic district design guidelines. Grazon earlier testified that he did not realize he had to follow specific regulations for the property.
- 3955 Arkwright Road — Fatty’s Pizza deferred its application for a drive-thru at its north Macon location. P&Z wants to see a site design to assure there is enough space to allow two lanes of traffic around the building that is occupied by other tenants.
- 1433 Eisenhower Pkwy. — Conditional use granted to allow Fidelity Factors to display in the parking lot auxiliary buildings for sale and U-hauls for rent.
- 4505 Columbus Road — Conditional use granted for Solid Designs, a fabricator of natural stone countertops and other architectural elements to continue to conduct retail sales, have a warehouse and fabrication room on site.
- 3902 Northside Drive — Crystal Easley granted conditional use approval for her Naturally Crafted business to operate in the Ashley Woods Professional Park.
- 4307 Forsyth Road — P&Z approved a new Ellianos coffee shop with drive-thru to go in following renovations to a former bank building in the outparcel of the shopping center anchored by The Fresh Market. Owners plan 18 seats inside and the same in an outdoor patio.
- 150 Sessions Drive — P&Z granted Inees Battle permission to open a childcare facility in the 4,970-square foot old Buck Melton Head Start location. Battle plans to serve children aged 6 weeks to 12 years old Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.
- 4316 Valley Forge Road — P&Z granted a variance for Trey Crisp to create a new parcel to give a homeowner access to her property, which has no street frontage. The surrounding land used to belong to the same family and has “a lot of unique weirdness about it” with odd-shaped lots, Doveton explained. Ruggieri said situations like this are why variances exist, when normal rules cannot be applied.
- 4283 Worsham Ave. — Although Easom explained that P&Z rarely grants a fence variance, Deborah Calloway will be allowed to have an eight-foot privacy fence down a portion of her side yards for security and screening from a back alley. Calloway bought the house with an existing, unpermitted 8 foot fence around the property, but she has already cut down the front portion of the fence to the required four feet in the front yard. Regulations define the front yard as being from the front corners of a dwelling to the right-of-way. Calloway’s neighbors’ house sits much closer to the curb than hers, so P&Z allowed her to keep the 8 feet from the front of her neighbor’s house to the back of her property line.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at [email protected] or 478-957-2829.
