Blue Springs, MO Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Blue Springs sets marijuana business buffers use-by-use in its Special Use Standards at UDC Section 405.050(A). Dispensaries (item 34), cultivation facilities (item 35), infused-products manufacturing facilities (item 37), general marijuana uses (item 38) and transportation facilities (item 39) must each stay at least one thousand (1,000) feet from an existing elementary or secondary school, licensed child day-care center, or church. Testing facilities (item 36) get a shorter three hundred (300) foot buffer from the same protected uses. The Code spells out exactly how to measure: for a freestanding facility, distance runs from the facility's closest exterior wall to the nearest point of the protected use's property line; where the facility sits inside a larger structure such as an office building or strip mall, distance runs from the protected use's property line to the facility's closest entrance or exit; and all measurements follow the shortest path a person could lawfully walk, not a straight line.

'Church' takes the definition set by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' regulation 19 CSR 30-95.010. The buffer is not absolute citywide, however: Section 404.240.E.3(a), part of the Downtown Development Code, exempts marijuana dispensary and testing facility uses from the 405.050(A)(34) and (36) buffer requirements entirely within the Downtown Zoning Map area, and those downtown uses may also be located in a building containing a residence as permitted for mixed-use buildings and live/work units. Every marijuana use must also stay out of buildings containing a residence outside downtown, keep all operations and storage fully enclosed, install ventilation preventing detectable odor beyond the parcel line, and display its state-issued license on the premises.