A staff proposal to restrict future sales of cigarettes and vapes near Fairfax County schools and child-care facilities has drawn a mixed reaction from county supervisors.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed staff in December to study options for regulating tobacco, nicotine and hemp products after the Virginia General Assembly adopted a law last year allowing localities to restrict sales from new businesses within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility.
However, when county staff presented their recommendations to the board’s land use policy committee on Tuesday (March 11), some supervisors indicated the proposal goes too far, others that it doesn’t go far enough, and one said resources shouldn’t be used on the initiative in an era of constrained budgets.
“I am not in favor of doing this,” Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith said, pointing to current budget constraints that would challenge enforcement efforts.
Smith, who chairs the land use policy committee, acknowledged that she might be in the minority in her blanket opposition but stressed that “we have to be careful when we add new things.”
Other supervisors voiced varying degrees of support for the proposal, or at least for taking a further look.
“I’m open to having conversations,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said.
The staff proposal recommends banning sales of nicotine, tobacco and hemp products within 1,000 feet of the main entrances to public, private and parochial schools and non-home-based child care facilities.
The limitation would apply both to businesses where such sales are the primary function and outlets — such as supermarkets, convenience stores and gas stations — where it’s an ancillary portion of overall sales.
Businesses that already selling the products before the new state law took effect on July 1, 2024 would be allowed to continue. Last fall, Alexandria became the first Northern Virginia locality to impose a ban.
Brandie Temple, a Fairfax County Health Department epidemiologist who delivered the staff report to county supervisors, said proximity to such outlets “increases youth experimentation.”
As of the end of 2024, an estimated 40,920 youth in Fairfax County were enrolled in educational facilities within 1,000 feet of a tobacco-selling retailer, according to the health department. About 22% of existing retailers fall within that range.
Nearly every supervisor delivered a unique take on staff’s proposal. Several, including Board Chair Jeff McKay, said the staff report contained some good recommendations as well as ones that could be considered “overreach.”
McKay questioned the need for bans near day-care facilities, suggesting that would be a step “too far.” He seemed more open to the need for restrictions around elementary schools but still expressed some skepticism.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck, however, asked whether the restrictions could be extended further to include recreation and community centers, health care and mental health facilities.
Leslie Johnson, the county’s zoning administrator, said she would look into the specifics of state law and formulate an answer.
Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw was stunned by county data showing that underage youth were successfully able to buy tobacco products in 23% of attempts in sting operations conducted by police to ensure business compliance.
“Clearly, all you have to do is go to four places … and one will sell [to] you,” he said. “It’ll take 30 minutes.”
McKay and Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman requested more information on staffing requirements and the financial impacts of a potential ban.
“There’s got to be a cost-benefit analysis,” Bierman said.
McKay said he wanted code enforcement personnel brought into the conversation, so they could provide views on the proposal’s real-world implications.
“Their lives [already] are hard,” he said of code enforcement staff.
The General Assembly voted in 2019 on a somewhat bipartisan basis to increase the minimum age for purchasing tobacco products from 18 to 21, though the minimum for active-duty military personnel stayed at 18.
Later that year, Congress passed legislation prohibiting sales of tobacco products to anyone under 21. Final regulations for the nationwide ban were adopted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2024.
