The Herndon Town Council will discuss new state laws on tobacco, vape and hemp shops, along with Virginia’s coming retail cannabis market, at its work session on Tuesday, October 6. The item is on the agenda the town posted to its CivicClerk meeting portal, under the title “Updates to State Law Regarding Regulation of Retail Locations for Tobacco, Nicotine, and Hemp Products and the Implementation of Virginia’s Retail Cannabis Marketplace.”
A work session is a discussion, not a vote, and no ordinance is on the table Tuesday. The rules Herndon writes over the next few months will decide where a cannabis store can open in town, how close it can sit to a school, and what hours it can keep.
When we searched for coverage on Monday, we found no other outlet reporting on the agenda item.
The meeting is Tuesday at 7 p.m. at 397 Herndon Parkway
The work session opens at 6 p.m. with a closed meeting, which the agenda describes as a consultation with legal counsel on specific legal matters. The public discussion starts at 7 p.m.
Council is not meeting at the Council Chambers on Lynn Street. The town closed the Municipal Center and the Council Chambers on October 2 for HVAC and entrance work, and every council, committee and commission meeting now takes place in the Herndon Police Department Community Room, Suite 300, at 397 Herndon Parkway. The town streams its meetings, and agendas and packets post to the CivicClerk portal.
Virginia now requires a state permit to sell tobacco and vapes
Two state changes are already in effect, and a third arrives in 2027.
The first is a retail tobacco permit. Since October 1, 2026, any business that sells cigarettes, chewing tobacco, vapes, heated tobacco products, or accessories like hemp wraps and glass pipes needs a permit from Virginia ABC. Convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, bars and restaurants all fall under it. Shops that sell only cigars or pipe tobacco are exempt. The application costs $300 for a business that already holds an ABC license and $400 for everyone else, and every owner with a stake of 10 percent or more goes through a criminal background check. Selling without a permit is now a misdemeanor.
Virginia ABC’s license search lists about 20 pending tobacco permit applications with Herndon addresses, from 7-Eleven locations and gas stations to H Mart, Lotte Plaza Market and a handful of smoke and vape shops. Some of those addresses sit in the Town of Herndon and some sit in the unincorporated parts of Fairfax County that share the Herndon mailing address.
Hemp products above 2 milligrams of THC are now off the shelves
The second change covers hemp. The Virginia Cannabis Control Authority took over hemp regulation from the state agriculture department in August 2026. Beginning August 15, 2026, a product with more than 2 milligrams of total THC per package can no longer be produced or sold as a hemp product in Virginia. THC, short for tetrahydrocannabinol, is the compound in cannabis that produces a high.
That cap targets the gummies, drinks and vape cartridges that many smoke shops sold under the hemp label for the past few years. Existing hemp retail registrations stay valid until they expire.
Retail cannabis sales begin July 1, 2027
Under House Bill 30 and Senate Bill 543, passed in the 2026 General Assembly session, Virginia will allow licensed retail cannabis stores to open on July 1, 2027. The Cannabis Control Authority is expected to begin taking license applications as early as February 1, 2027.
Localities do not get to keep stores out entirely, according to an analysis of the law by the cannabis law firm Vicente LLP. They do keep several tools:
- Zoning. A town or county decides which zoning districts allow a cannabis store, and whether it needs a special approval to open.
- Hours and business licenses. Local governments can set operating hours and licensing rules.
- A local tax. Localities can add a tax of 1 to 3.5 percent on top of the state’s 6 percent.
- Buffers. State law keeps cannabis stores 1,000 feet from schools, hospitals and child day programs. A locality can shorten that distance but cannot lengthen it.
Staff in Virginia Beach told their council that local rules should be in place before the state opens applications on February 1, 2027, which gives Herndon roughly four months.
Elden Street, Spring Street and Herndon Parkway hold most of the town’s retail
The Town of Herndon covers about four square miles, and most of its commercial zoning runs along Elden Street, Spring Street, Herndon Parkway and the downtown core around Station Street. Several of those corridors sit within a short walk of Herndon High School on Bennett Street, Herndon Middle School on Locust Street, and the town’s elementary schools.
A 1,000-foot buffer around those campuses would rule out part of the downtown and Elden Street frontage on its own. Council will decide which of the remaining storefronts qualify, and whether a cannabis store opens like any other shop or needs a special exception first.
The town’s rules apply only inside town limits. Homes in Oak Hill, Floris, Franklin Farm and the rest of the 20170 and 20171 ZIP codes outside the town fall under Fairfax County, which will write its own ordinance.
Homeowners should watch the zoning map more closely than the headlines. A store that opens in a shopping center you drive past is a different thing from one that opens on the corner of your street, and the town’s zoning choices decide which of those is possible.
Main Street, the 2027 legislative agenda and pipestem trash pickup share the agenda
Three other discussion items are on Tuesday’s agenda:
- The Virginia Main Street program. Virginia Main Street is a state program run by the Department of Housing and Community Development that supports downtown revitalization with training, technical help and grants. The agenda lists it as a discussion item with no attached documents.
- The town’s 2027 legislative agenda. A draft is attached. A legislative agenda is the list of changes a town asks its state delegates and senators to pursue in the next General Assembly session.
- Trash collection on private pipestem driveways. A pipestem is a long, shared private driveway that serves several homes set back from the street. The town is discussing its policy for collecting trash on those driveways, which affects a number of Herndon neighborhoods built with them.
The Planning Commission’s October 5 agenda listed four Herndon items
The Herndon Planning Commission’s agenda for Monday, October 5, lists four items:
- A special exception for 757 Elden Street to allow a private event and meeting venue in the Central Commercial district.
- A zoning text amendment that would let the Historic District Review Board grant larger setback reductions to certain properties in the historic district.
- A zoning text amendment that brings the town code in line with state law allowing mixed-use or residential projects by right on land owned by tax-exempt religious organizations and some nonprofits. “By right” means a project that meets the zoning rules can go ahead without a public hearing or a council vote.
- A zoning text amendment on parking, loading and circulation.
The commission’s next regular meeting is October 19. The Historic District Review Board and the Architectural Review Board both meet Wednesday, October 7, on a rear addition at 1018 Grant Street and an alteration at 12801 Worldgate Drive.
Herndon has a new plan underway, an interim town manager, a closed town hall and a lost court case
The cannabis discussion comes during a crowded fall for Herndon’s town government.
Herndon 2050 is rewriting the town’s long-range plan. Council launched Herndon 2050 on March 24, 2026, to replace Herndon 2030, the comprehensive plan the town adopted in 2008. Two early action plans, one for the Metro station area and one for downtown, will move ahead of the full plan, which the town expects to adopt in late 2027 or early 2028. Our explainer, Herndon 2050 Explained, covers what the plan controls and how to weigh in, and the town posts updates at herndon2050.org.
Council fired Town Manager Dan Hoffman. On September 29, the Town Council voted unanimously to dismiss Hoffman, who started in November 2025, effective immediately. Mayor Keven LeBlanc called it a personnel matter and said the town would not comment further, FFXnow reported. Deputy Town Manager Kirstyn Jovanovich is serving as interim town manager, a role she held for seven months before Hoffman arrived.
Town Hall is closed until January 2. The Municipal Center at 777 Lynn Street and the Council Chambers next door closed on October 2 for HVAC replacement and new entrances, and they reopen January 2, 2027. Permit, zoning, engineering and finance counters moved to Suite 100 at 397 Herndon Parkway. We covered the details, including the roughly $8 million cost of the first phase, in Herndon’s Municipal Center Closes October 2.
The town lost its downtown land case and is pushing back. On September 17, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge granted Comstock’s motion for summary judgment in the town’s suit to reclaim the five downtown acres at Elden and Center streets, leaving the deed in Comstock’s name. The town filed objections on September 29, according to a town news release, and has until October 19 to note an appeal. Our posts on the trial that never happened and the ruling cover the case and what the block means for downtown parking.
Watch Tuesday’s discussion, then the draft ordinance
Tuesday’s work session will show whether Council wants to move quickly or wait for guidance from the state. The next milestone is a draft zoning amendment, which would go to the Planning Commission for a public hearing before Council votes. With state license applications opening February 1, a draft would likely need to appear on a Planning Commission agenda this winter.
We will report what Council says on Tuesday and track the ordinance as it moves. If you own a home or a business near Elden Street, Spring Street or downtown and have questions about what a new use could mean for your property, reach out. We sell homes across Herndon and Reston and follow the town’s zoning decisions closely.
See something missing or wrong? Email us at [email protected] and we will check it and update the post.
