Hoover zoning board recommends approval for tobacco, CBD shop, but with name change
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday night recommended approval for tobacco sales at a new shop planning to open in The Village at Lee Branch shopping center off U.S. 280, but not without first asking the business owner to change the name of his shop.
The owner of the shop, Greystone resident Henry Dailey, was planning to call his store Hemp House Smoke Shop & Vape, but two zoning board members — Chairman Mike Wood and Hoover Councilwoman Khristi Driver — asked Dailey if he would be willing to change the name of his store.
Driver said Hoover officials last year decided they did not want to become a dispensary city for medical marijuana and said she did not want to approve Dailey’s request unless he would consider changing the name.
Dailey noted that he already has a business license to sell CBD (cannabidiol) products legally in the city of Hoover and that the only reason he was before the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission was because tobacco sales require “conditional use” approval from the city.
He said there already are 15 other businesses selling CBD products in Hoover, including the Walgreens and Publix stores at The Village at Lee Branch. “We’re not doing anything different than any other place is in the area,” Dailey said.
The CBD products he will be selling come from hemp, and any product that may contain THC (tetrohydrocannbionol — the major psychoactive component in cannabis) will be under the legal prescribed limit of .3%, Dailey said.
Dailey said he would rather not have to change the name of his business because he already has spent $20,000 on signs. However, he would do so if he had to do so to get his tobacco sales approved, he said.
Driver noted that while Walgreens may sell CBD products, the name of their business is not Walgreens Hemp Products. She also noted that while Dailey’s business meets the requirement for tobacco sales to be at least 500 feet from the nearest residence, his business only meets that criteria because the regulation marks the distance from the building, not from the lot line.
When Wood followed up by asking Dailey if he would voluntarily change the name of his business, Dailey suggested H&H Smoke Shop & Vape, and Wood and Driver said that worked for them.
The request now moves to the Hoover City Council, with a public hearing likely scheduled for Dec. 18.
Dailey’s business is slated to be at 120 Doug Baker Blvd., Suite 110, which is in an outparcel building in The Village at Lee Branch. It will be one of two businesses in the building, the other being Mt. Fuji Japanese Sushi Steakhouse. The location formerly was home to a dentist office, Dailey said.
“It’s a great location. It’s bustling,” he said. “It’s very busy.”
This is his first business of this type, he said.
CBD is a compound found in marijuana but does not cause a “high,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dailey noted that CBD has a wide variety of uses, including helping with muscle soreness and helping dogs calm down.