Avondale, AZ Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Sec. 28-312(A) first narrows where a medical marijuana dispensary, a marijuana establishment, or a cultivation site supplying either can operate: only the General Industrial (A-1) zoning district qualifies, and even a retail marijuana establishment is otherwise prohibited citywide except for a dual licensee sharing a location with an existing nonprofit medical dispensary. Subsection (B) then layers on seven separate 2,000-foot buffers, each measured in a straight line from the closest property boundary of the marijuana site to the closest property boundary of the protected use: any other dispensary, establishment or cultivation site; a substance abuse or drug/alcohol rehabilitation facility; any public, private, parochial or charter school, learning center, or educational or entertainment facility catering to children; a childcare center or registered residential childcare facility; a public library; a park; and a church or place of worship.

Because the buffers run from every one of those seven categories simultaneously, a single qualifying A-1 parcel has to clear all seven 2,000-foot separations at once, not just one. Sec. 28-312(C) and (D) add that a stand-alone cultivation site not tied to a licensed dispensary or retail establishment is itself prohibited, capping the city to one cultivation location per associated dispensary or retailer. An applicant must submit a scale drawing under Sec. 28-316(A)(9) showing the separations to every listed use, prepared by a registered land surveyor if any use sits within 50 feet of the minimum distance.