Orange County commissioners on Tuesday discussed the prospect of changing county zoning rules to prevent new smoke shops from opening within 500 to 1,000 feet of a public school, citing concerns about youth health and teens’ vulnerability to predatory marketing.
Currently, the county has no buffer or restriction in place, although a controversial state law approved by state lawmakers in 2025 could make it difficult for them to do so.
Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson, representing District 1, was the official who brought forward the buffer zone proposal, which is based loosely on similar buffer ordinances in effect in Alachua County and other communities across the country. “Retailers are systematically located near schools because exposure is a marketing tool,” Wilson argued. “Zoning buffers can directly reduce that type of exposure.”
Florida already has a statewide 500-foot buffer zone law in place for alcohol sales near grade schools, with exceptions for establishments (e.g., restaurants) that derive at least 51 percent of sales from food or nonalcoholic beverages.
Wilson said she was inspired to bring her proposal forward due to concerns from parents about a vape shop — Skywalker Smoke & Vape — located just a few hundred feet from Olympia High School in Windermere, although she acknowledged other communities in Orange County may be facing this issue, too.
An analysis by Wilson’s office found that 27 percent of Orange County public schools have a vape shop located within a half-mile of their campuses. Several high school students in Wilson’s district testified in support of the commissioner’s idea during the board meeting.
“Vape retailers often locate near schools to maximize exposure to youth and utilize high traffic areas to target students,” Wilson said during a presentation on the issue. “This proximity, combined with flavored products and sometimes [lacking] age verification, increases the likelihood of teen vaping, impulse purchases and addiction.”
Teenagers can indeed be more susceptible to substance misuse and addiction, although there’s also evidence that drug use among adolescents has generally remained low. Survey data from the Florida Department of Health shows that smoking, including vape and e-cigarette use, among Florida high school students has been on the decline, in line with national trends reported by the U.S. Food and Health Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2020, about 14 percent of Florida high school students reported ever trying a cigarette, compared to 9.2 percent in 2024, the most recent year for which state DOH data is available. Current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, hookah or electronic vaping products by high school students also decreased nearly 50 percent during the same time period, from 25.2 percent to 12.7 percent.
Still, Wilson pointed out Tuesday that approximately 90 percent of daily smokers report that they began smoking as a minor. She expressed concern about vaping and smoke shops that use bright colors, candy-wrapper aesthetics, popular TV and movie characters, and other “childlike symbols” to, in her mind, lure young people in, despite Florida’s ban on vaping for people under age 21.
“It is all very much a targeted marketing ploy, and it’s successful,” said Wilson.
All county commissioners on Orange County’s board expressed support for Wilson’s proposal, while pointing out one potentially relevant challenge in implementation: Florida’s Senate Bill 180, a preemptive state law approved by the Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2025. The law, initially pitched as a way to support hurricane recovery, restricts local governments’ ability to change land-use regulations.
Orange County has joined more than two dozen jurisdictions in Florida that have sued to repeal the law, arguing that it has inhibited the county’s ability to pass policies to manage future growth, protect local habitats and expand access to affordable housing.
Orange County attorney Jeffrey Newton admitted during the commission meeting Tuesday, “It’s going to take some brainstorming on behalf of the attorneys as well as staff” to ensure the county remains compliant with SB 180, as it is. Although state lawmakers proposed changes to the law this year to address local officials’ concerns, those changes failed to make it past the finish line ahead of the end of the annual legislative session.
Wilson, however, said she is confident the state would side with the county in its effort to prevent teen vaping, pointing to “vape free” initiatives pursued by state officials. In 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a $79 million settlement with Juul, an e-cigarette manufacturer, over a 2023 lawsuit the state filed over its alleged marketing towards children. Uthmeier’s office established a $30 million Vape-Free Florida Fund from that settlement, according to a statement, intended for “enforcement of Florida’s laws protecting children from harmful marketing and products.”
Wilson said she believes her proposal “falls in alignment” with that Vape-Free fund mission. “So I don’t foresee SB 180 and the broad application here as being a deterrent.”
Orange County commissioners’ discussion of the idea Tuesday was just that: a discussion, to determine if other commissioners were on board with Wilson’s idea (they were). Next, county staff will need to research viable policy language, determine what they’re able to do under state law, and come up with a proposal for the board to review and vote on at a later date.
Wilson suggested they come back with a proposal sometime in August. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, however, expressed concern that could be too tight a timeline for county staff to meet. Demings is on his way out of the mayor’s office this next January due to term limits, and he’s currently running to become the Democratic nominee for Florida governor. He would have to win the Democratic primary election scheduled in August in order to become the nominee.
He candidly (if vaguely) cited the upcoming election season and county budget talks this summer as factors that could make it difficult for county staff to come up with a proposal by August. “A lot of people up here are going to be in the middle of election season, so that’s ambitious, I think, but we need to do it, do the research and do it right,” he said.
County commissioner Mayra Uribe of District 3 is also running for a different office, although in this case, she’s running for Demings’ current seat as mayor. District 4 commissioner Christine Moore, meanwhile, is running for mayor of Apopka.
Alachua County created its own buffer zone ordinance for tobacco shops near public schools in 2019 to address higher reported use of electronic vapes by Florida high school students at the time (25 percent in 2018, according to the county). Hillsborough County, meanwhile, established a 180-day moratorium on opening new smoke shops within 500 feet of public and private schools in 2024. Both local policies, however, were passed before Florida Senate Bill 180 came into the fold in 2025.
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
