Apple Valley, MN Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 155.320(D)(3) sets three separation distances for every cannabis business, not only retailers. The first is 1,000 feet from an elementary or secondary school, meaning kindergarten through grade 12. The second is 500 feet from a state licensed day care center, including preschool programs, from a state licensed residential treatment facility, or from an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by minors, such as a playground or athletic field. The third is 1,000 feet from an existing lawful cannabis business.

Only the business-to-business distance has a printed measuring method: a line from the nearest point on the boundary of the property holding the existing business to the nearest boundary of the property where a new business is proposed. The code prints no measuring method for the school, day care, treatment facility or park distances.

Division (d) is a grandfather clause. The school and day care buffers in divisions (a) and (b) do not apply to an existing licensed and registered cannabis retailer in operation if one of those protected uses starts up inside its buffer area later. The 1,000-foot distance between cannabis businesses in division (c) is not part of that carve-out.

The buffers work alongside the use table in § 155.320(C) and the five-retailer cap in § 121.04 of the Apple Valley Code. A retail registrant certifies zoning compliance on the registration form filed with the City Clerk (§ 121.05(F)), and the city runs a preliminary compliance check on zoning before issuing the registration (§ 121.11). Temporary cannabis events carry their own setback: no closer than 200 feet to any property line of a residential use or residential zoned property, for no longer than four days (96 hours), with consumption prohibited on the event property (§ 155.320(H)(1)).