Bayonne, NJ Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Chapter 39, Recreational Cannabis, sets two separate 1,000-foot buffers for the City of Bayonne. First, within the permitted zones, cannabis retailers must be spaced a minimum of 1,000 feet apart, measured from the primary entrance of one location to the next. Second, and separately, every cannabis establishment (a cultivator, manufacturer or retailer) located in a permitted zone must maintain a minimum of 1,000 feet from schools, churches, child daycare facilities and public parks and playgrounds. Both buffers apply only within the districts the City has opened to the industry: the H-C Highway Commercial/Selected Light Industrial District and the I-H Heavy Industrial District, and only east of the Route 440 corridor, with a list of specifically excluded blocks and lots carved out of the I-H zone.

Before a business can rely on a location, the Applicant must obtain a Letter of Zoning Compliance from the Bayonne Zoning Officer confirming the site sits in one of the permitted zones and, by extension, meets the distance rules; the Zoning Compliance letter costs $50. The buffer requirements are enforced as part of the same site-plan and licensing review that runs through the Cannabis Preliminary Review Board and the Planning Board, and any noncompliant siting can be grounds to deny the Letter of Zoning Compliance or the Planning Board's site plan approval before a municipal license is ever issued.