Boca Raton, FL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Sec. 28-1312(1)(b), adopted by Ordinance No. 5513 on February 11, 2020, is Boca Raton's spacing control on where medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facilities and retail pharmacies can cluster. The rule bars a new retail pharmacy or MMTC dispensing facility from locating within 4,000 feet of any other retail pharmacy or MMTC dispensing facility, whether that other facility was established before or after the February 11, 2020 effective date, and the distance is measured by the shortest airline path between the nearest points of the two parcels rather than along streets or property lines.

This is a facility-to-facility separation requirement, not a setback from schools, parks or residential uses; the code does not impose a distinct buffer from those use types for dispensing facilities. Sec. 28-1312(1)(a) pairs with the spacing rule by also requiring every retail pharmacy or MMTC dispensing facility to have a minimum gross floor area of 2,500 square feet, separate from any minimum floor area required by the underlying zoning district, with the entire use's floor area counted toward that minimum where the pharmacy or dispensing facility is only part of a larger use.

Sec. 28-1312(2) exempts any retail pharmacy or dispensing facility that was already lawfully established as of February 11, 2020, from the spacing and floor area rules, so long as the use has not been abandoned for six months or more, meaning older locations can sit closer together than the 4,000-foot rule would otherwise allow.