Bensalem, PA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- School/park/daycare buffer
- 1,000 feet, straight-line, property line to property line
- Rehab facility buffer
- 2,000 feet, straight-line measurement
- Applicant survey radius
- Half-mile radius disclosure required on plan
- Consequence of omission
- Immediate denial of the application
- Zoning approval type
- Conditional use in G-C district
Summary
Bensalem Township's zoning ordinance keeps medical marijuana dispensaries at least 1,000 feet from any school, daycare, place of worship, park, library, or community center, and 2,000 feet from a licensed drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility, under Code Section 232-387(1). Both buffers run as a straight-line measurement from property line to property line and ignore intervening buildings.
c.A medical marijuana dispensary shall not be operated or maintained on a parcel within 1,000 feet, measured by a straight line in all directions, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest point on the property line of a parcel containing a public, private or parochial school, daycare center, place of worship, public park, library or community center.d.A medical marijuana dispensary shall not be operated or maintained on a parcel within 2,000 feet, measured by a straight line in all directions, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest point on the property line of a licensed residential substance abuse diagnostic and treatment facility or other licensed drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility.e.It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to identify on the plan submitted other nearby land uses, as identified in (c) and (d) above, within a half mile radius of the proposed medical marijuana dispensary.
Full Breakdown
Section 232-387(1) sets the siting buffers for a medical marijuana dispensary approved as a conditional use in the G-C General Commercial District. Subsection (c) bars a dispensary parcel from coming within 1,000 feet, measured by a straight line in every direction without regard to intervening structures or objects, of the nearest property line of a parcel holding a public, private, or parochial school, a daycare center, a place of worship, a public park, a library, or a community center. Subsection (d) adds a second, wider buffer: 2,000 feet, measured the same straight-line way, from a licensed residential substance abuse diagnostic and treatment facility or any other licensed drug or alcohol rehabilitation facility.
Because both distances are measured in every direction rather than along a travel route, a protected use that sits well off the nearest road can still disqualify a site. Subsection (e) puts the burden on the applicant: the plan submitted with the conditional use application must identify every one of these nearby land uses within a half-mile radius of the proposed site, and failing to flag a use that triggers either buffer is grounds for immediate denial of the application, not just a request for a revised plan.
The buffers apply on top of the ordinance's separate rule that a dispensary cannot share a site with a marijuana grower or processor facility, and on top of the Department of Health registration Section 232-387(1)(a) requires before Township approval can issue.
Violations & Fines
An application that omits a school, daycare, church, park, library, community center, or drug and alcohol treatment facility within the half-mile radius the applicant must survey is denied outright under Section 232-387(1)(e), and a dispensary later found to sit inside either buffer loses its Township conditional use approval since the buffer is a condition of that approval, not a separate citation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the 1,000-foot school buffer measured?
Does the buffer apply to drug treatment centers too?
What happens if an applicant misses a nearby protected use?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Bensalem
Compare Bensalem to another location·View the Pennsylvania cannabis regulations overview
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