Lincolnton vape shop accused of illegal sales opened near school just before city changed rules

Yahoo

27-02-2025

LINCOLNTON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — There has been a push in North Carolina municipalities, including Lincolnton, to put zoning restrictions in place which ban new vape shops from opening near schools.
Queen City News started looking into the zoning regulations after a manager of a vape shop that was the scene of an armed robbery and shooting earlier this month in Lincolnton was charged this week with felonies including selling drugs to underage students.
Dave's vape shop is right beside Lincolnton High School on North Aspen Street. According to Lincolnton's assistant city manager, the business was allowed to open there under the city permit it received in November 2023.
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State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents say they started looking into Dave's because they say they got more and more complaints about vape products confiscated from underage students.
A couple of businesses and neighbors don't like the vape shop being so close to Lincolnton High School. A two-lane street is all that separates them.
Neighbors remember the chaos three weeks ago.
'I heard the four gunshots, I immediately knew they were gunshots, so I grabbed my daughter, and I ran to the room,' said a neighbor, who did not want to be identified.
The neighbor didn't know where the shots came from at first and feared it was a school shooting.
'I initially was pretty spooked because I live close to the high school, so I thought they could come here to hide,' said the neighbor.
Right beside Lincolnton High at Dave's, police say three suspects robbed the store and got into a shootout with a worker there.
'It's pretty upsetting, especially in town here, we don't have a lot of violence,' said another neighbor, Dave Binderup.
Three weeks later, ALE officials and the Lincolnton Police Department announced that they charged Omari Cole, the manager of Dave's, with 20 charges, including a dozen felonies.
ALE agents say they found some of the business's Delta 9 products contained more than 0.3% THC, making them illegal.
'I don't have a problem with someone doing their business, whatever their business is, as long as it isn't detrimental to the kids at the school,' said Binderup.
He says Lincoln County officials should consider doing what one other county in North Carolina, Wake County, has done. There they've banned new vape shops from opening within 1,000 feet of a school in the unincorporated parts of the county.
'Especially with the heightened awareness on shootings at schools, we just really don't need any of that, we don't need the threat, we don't need the opportunity for a threat,' said Binderup.
The assistant city manager for Lincolnton says when Dave's opened in 2023, the business was allowed to open up based on the zoning.
But just months later, on Jan. 4 of this year, a new city zoning amendment was passed that bars new vape shops to open within 500 feet of a school.
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Assistant City Manager Scott Clark sent Queen City News the following information on the requirements of the zoning amendment:
Smoke shop with the following prescribed standards:
1. Shall not be located within 500 feet of any K-12 public school or licensed child care facility;
2. Shall not be located within 1,000 feet of any other smoke shop;
3. Separation is required to prevent overconcentration, which is defined as three or more of these uses existing within a 1,000-foot radius of the business. Required separation distance shall be measured as a radius from the front door of one business to the front door of the surrounding business located within or outside the city's corporate limits; and
4. Must meet all sign regulations in the udo including but not limited to: (a) flashing signs or any signs with flashing or intermittent light or lights or reflective devices of changing degree of intensity or color are prohibited; or (b) a maximum of 10% of the wall area of any wall on the building.
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