The Wetumpka City Council on Monday became the fifth municipality in the river region to place a temporary moratorium on new convenience stores being built in the city.
According to WSFA, the Wetumpka City Council passed an ordinance on Monday that it wouldn't issue building permits for any new package stores, gas stations, vape shops, mini-warehouses, or self-storage facilities for the next year.
Wetumpka passed the ordinance over concerns about crime and public safety, according to WSFA.
Prattville, Millbrook, and Montgomery have also recently passed temporary moratoriums on permits for new gas stations, vape shops, and package stores. Pike Road also banned new gas station construction for one year in April.
"I have some kids that's being addicted to these vapes," Montgomery City Councilman Oronde Mitchell said at a recent meeting.
Bart Fletcher, president of the Petroleum & Convenience Marketers of Alabama, a trade association representing 200 gas stations and convenience stores, cited a CDC study stating that only 6.8% of high schoolers who vaped got their products from convenience stores. In contrast, 54% got the products from friends or family, and 12.4% got them from vape and tobacco shops.
"The convenience store compliance track record is far, far better at selling age-restricted products than many other businesses," Fletcher said in a statement after Montgomery passed the moratorium. "The most recently available data from the Center for Disease Control pinpoints the real source of the problem, and it isn't convenience stores."
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