SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — The Surfside Beach Town Council has taken a significant step toward regulating vape and cannabis shops within town limits.

After a roughly eight-month moratorium that halted the approval of new business licenses for these shops, the council has initially approved new regulations after a unanimous vote Tuesday on first reading.

Councilman Harry Kohlmann expressed optimism about resolving the issue, saying, “Hopefully we can put this issue to bed.”

The new ordinance introduces a thousand-foot restriction, limiting where cannabis or CBD shops can operate.

Councilman Bill Kinken questioned the practicality of the restriction, asking, “With a thousand-foot restriction, where can you put one in Surfside?”

The ordinance was prompted by a police raid last September on a cannabis dispensary allegedly selling THC products exceeding state limits.

The planning commission, now chaired by Dusty McCracken, has drafted rules prohibiting these shops from being within a thousand feet of each other and near schools, residences, or churches.

READ MORE: Surfside Beach closes in on new regulations for tobacco and vape shop businesses

The town attorney, Jarrett Bouchette, did say parts of the ordinance may be difficult to enforce when it comes to penalizing shop ownership, but overall, he endorsed the proposed ordinance.

“When you look at it in totality, I think it comports with what the Supreme Court has laid out,” Bouchette said.

The lapse of the moratorium revealed that the four existing shops in town were improperly allowed to sell cannabis products. Until the ordinance is fully approved, no new shops can open.

“We’re actually opening up to allow these shops, our Uses Chart currently bans them. It doesn’t allow any of them to be in town. Within this ordinance here we’re allowing them to be in town and do that,” McCracken noted.

The council’s approval of the ordinance marks the first step in establishing precise rules and accountability measures for shopkeepers. A second and final vote is scheduled for later this month.