Bethlehem will vote later this month to restrict vaping, tobacco sales - Times Union

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1of8FILE - In this April 16, 2019 file photo, a woman exhales while vaping from a Juul pen e-cigarette in Vancouver, Wash. On Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, Massachusetts sued Juul Labs Inc., accusing the company of deliberating targeting young people through its marketing campaigns. (AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer, File)AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer

2of8Sophomore Katerina Van Steele looks through a microscope at living cells in a solution of electronic cigarette vaping juice at Bethlehem High School on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, in Delmar, N.Y. Students in the Honors Biology class are performing tests with living cells and electronic cigarette vaping juice to see how the cells react to the vaping juice. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union)Paul Buckowski/Albany Times Union

3of8FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019, file photo, Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses the media in New York. New Yorka€™s Democratic governor wants neighboring states to work together on recreational marijuana policies that also address vaping products. Gov. Cuomo is set to travel to Connecticut Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, to meet with the statea€™s Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)Seth Wenig

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5of8NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 26: A man vapes as people protest against the New York City Council vote on legislation to ban flavored e-cigarettes outside City Hall on November 26, 2019 in New York City. New York is voting to be the first big city to ban flavored e-cigarettes and comes days after New Yorks second vaping death. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

6of8Jesica Ellis, who works for Demand Vape, a vaping product wholesaler, right, offers counterpoint to anti-vape protesters who gathered outside the Albany County Courthouse ahead of an Albany County Legislature vote on whether to ban flavored vaping and tobacco products on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)Will Waldron/Albany Times Union

7of8Demonstrators from health advocacy groups, and local supporters in favor of a ban on flavored vaping and tobacco products, gathered outside the Albany County Courthouse ahead of an Albany County Legislature vote on whether to ban vaping products on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, in Albany, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Times Union)Will Waldron/Albany Times Union

8of8In this Tuesday, April 10, 2018 photo, a high school principal displays vaping devices that were confiscated from students at the school in Massachusetts. On Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 805 confirmed and probable cases have been reported to have a vaping-related breathing illness, and the death toll has risen to 12. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)(AP Photo/Steven Senne)

BETHLEHEM — The Bethlehem town board is set to vote on imposing strict new regulations on the sale of tobacco and vaping products that would require retailers to get a local license.

The new regulations would be accompanied by a six-month ban on the approval of any new vaping shops as the town sets up the licensing program, which is opposed by gas stations and convenience stores that sell tobacco.

The licensing program would be designed as a "cap and winnow" system that would require two businesses to give up their tobacco licenses if a new retailer wanted to get a license. The system would eventually cut the number of tobacco retailers in town from 15 to seven over time.

Under the proposed laws, vaping stores would be prohibited from within 1,000 feet of a school. The town currently has one operating vape shop in Glenmont, although it is far enough away from Glenmont Elementary to comply with the proposed regulations.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the town board held public hearings on the proposals virtually via Zoom during its two recent meetings. A vote is expected at the board's next meeting later this month.

"We'll vote on these proposed local laws at our June 24th town board meeting," Bethlehem Supervisor David VanLuven said Wednesday night after the second Zoom public hearing call.

Citizens have appeared on the calls to voice their opinions on the proposals, and have also submitted letters that town board members have read out loud.

The New York Association of Convenience Stores has been the most vocal against the proposed tobacco regulations, which have not laid out the cost of a town tobacco sales license.

"With its convoluted system for allotting a shrinking number of new licenses based on distance, type of business, or pure chance, this restrictive covenant scheme sounds rather burdensome for retail applicants and the town itself, absent compelling evidence of underage sales," NYACS President James Calvin said in a letter to the town board.  "And the fact that the license fee isn’t even specified in the proposed local law makes us even more skeptical."

While tobacco retailers have opposed the new laws as overbearing and duplicative of state regulations, local residents have overwhelmingly approved of passing the policies to prevent underage smoking.

"Vape shops go 100 percent against the core value of Delmar as a community grounded in health and wellness," resident Melissa Hurt wrote the town board. "Just look at all the people on the bike paths and rail trail year-round to see."

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Bethlehem will vote later this month to restrict vaping, tobacco sales - Times Union
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