Whatcom County, WA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

WCC § 20.80.690(2)(b) sets the separation standards for licensed cannabis production and processing facilities in the Rural and Agriculture zoning districts, the only districts where the use is allowed. No facility may locate within 1,000 feet of a community center, measured as the shortest straight-line distance between property lines, or within 300 feet of any residential dwelling unit that existed at the time of application and sits on a different parcel, measured from the residence's structure to the facility's structures or security fence. Subsection (2)(c) adds a facility-to-facility buffer: no cannabis production facility may sit within 1,000 feet of another production facility. Subsection (2)(d) limits each legal lot to one Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board production license, though it may be paired with one processing license, and subsection (2)(e) allows processing only as an accessory use to an on-site production operation.

Facility size is capped too: on parcels smaller than four and one-half acres, production and processing together cannot exceed 2,000 square feet; on larger Rural District parcels the cap rises to one acre, and on larger Agriculture District parcels to two acres. Under § 20.80.690(1), the WSLCB must approve the state license before Whatcom County issues a certificate of occupancy, the use may not occur in a residence with restricted law-enforcement access, is barred as a home-based business, and cannot be sited in critical areas, their buffers, or shoreline jurisdiction. The zoning administrator can waive the community-center or residential buffer if every affected neighbor within the buffer signs a notarized consent.