CAMPBELL COUNTY NEWS DESK · VIRGINIA
Campbell County, VA vape-shop rules: school buffers and the five-percent test
The county’s posted zoning text defines covered retailers through inventory and display space. The meeting record shows how supervisors reached the school-distance rule and why existing uses and town boundaries matter.
Posted July 21, 2026 code and November–December 2025 meeting record verified October 18, 2026.
What the posted county code requires
Campbell County’s posted Chapter 22 places off-site recreational-substance retailers greater than three miles from the property line of any child day care center or public, private or parochial school. The relevant business-district entries require a special use permit:
- Business–Limited Commercial: §22-12(A)(28).
- Business–General Commercial: §22-12.1(A)(51).
- Business–Heavy Commercial: §22-12.2(A)(27).
The covered category, §22-2(B)(123), requires retail sales of recreational substances with those products making up 5% or more of total inventory OR 5% or more of total display shelf area. The substances include retail tobacco products, nicotine-vapor products and specified cannabis products intended for inhalation.
The test concerns inventory or shelf area, not sales revenue. The code separately defines on-site use, and industrial districts incorporate some business-district special uses. A complete parcel determination therefore requires more than checking these three entries.
November 2025: 1,000 feet discussed, then 10 miles advertised
The November 6, 2025 minutes describe an initial proposal using 1,000 linear feet. County Attorney Tripp Isenhour advised supervisors that a more restrictive proposal should be advertised again and heard at a later public hearing.
Supervisor Charlie Watts asked the board to consider 10 miles. He also proposed treating a business with vaping products accounting for at least 10% of its retail sales as a vape shop. Those were positions raised during deliberations; the current definition uses the separate inventory-or-display test described above.
The board removed the vaping items from that evening’s code-update package, then voted 5–1 to include a 10-mile proposal in the next public-hearing advertisement. One supervisor was absent. That vote authorized an advertisement; it did not establish a 10-mile operating rule.
December 2: the recorded three-mile adoption
At the next hearing, Chairman Justin Carwile proposed reducing the advertised distance, explaining his concern that 10 miles could appear to function as an outright ban. Supervisors discussed limiting children’s exposure to the products and how the change would affect existing businesses.
The December 2, 2025 minutes record a 7–0 vote on Watts’s motion adopting a distance greater than three miles for the Business–Limited Commercial entry, §22-12(A)(28). The definition package also passed unanimously.
That specific recorded motion establishes the B-LC adoption. The current published code supplies the parallel B-GC and B-HC text. The March 3, 2026 minutes confirm the board later approved the November and December meeting minutes. The decision described here occurred in 2025; the date on the consolidated code is its later edition date.
Why an existing shop is a separate question
During the November discussion, Isenhour told supervisors that existing vape shops near schools would have vested-rights protections. That is a reason to examine a business’s history before drawing conclusions from its location.
Virginia Code §15.2-2307 protects qualifying vested rights and addresses continued nonconforming uses. Its provisions depend on facts such as governmental approvals, reliance, continuing use and changes to a property. These protections do not establish that every existing retailer has the same legal position.
This report has not reviewed individual business files, measured particular properties or identified an enforcement action. A nearby school and an operating storefront, by themselves, do not establish a violation or a closure requirement.
Altavista and Brookneal have a jurisdictional boundary
Virginia Code §15.2-2281 assigns county zoning authority to unincorporated territory and municipal zoning authority to incorporated areas. For an address inside Altavista or Brookneal, the applicable town’s rules and decisions must be checked.
The distinction turns on the actual municipal boundary. A mailing address that uses a town name is not enough to resolve which government handles a particular parcel. This article describes Campbell’s county code; it does not substitute that text for an incorporated town’s ordinance.
Where to check the rule and a particular decision
The county’s code index linked the July 21, 2026 Chapter 22 edition when reviewed on October 18. For questions about the applicable classification or an existing decision, the Zoning, Planning and Subdivisions office lists Zoning Administrator Karissa Shrader at 434-332-9615 and zoningoffice@campbellcountyva.gov.
The useful records for a particular site would include its zoning classification, written determinations, approvals and any applicable conditions. This article reports the documented policy and its history; it does not make a legal determination for a property owner.