Bristol Township, PA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 205-16 of the Bristol Township Code sets the same separation for two medical marijuana uses. Use D31 Medical Marijuana Dispensary, in subsection (c), and Use F13 Medical Marijuana Grower/Processor, in subsection (d), each prohibit a location within 1,000 feet of the property line of a parcel containing a public, private or parochial school or a day-care center.

The measuring method is written into the text. Distance is measured by a straight line in all directions, without regard to intervening structures or objects. A building, wall, road or river between the two parcels does not lengthen the measurement. The starting point on the protected side is the property line of the parcel that contains the school or day-care center, not the school building itself, so the full parcel edge counts.

The protected uses are specific. The text names public, private and parochial schools and day-care centers. It does not name parks, places of worship or residential districts for these two cannabis uses. Other Bristol Township uses carry a wider list: Use D23 Personal Service Establishment (tattooing and body piercing) and Use D29 Pawnshop/Check-Cashing Establishment each require 1,000 feet from any residential use or district, school, place of worship, day care center, recreation facility and public park.

The separation sits on top of the rest of each use's criteria. A dispensary is a conditional use in the C Commercial District authorized by Township Council, and a grower/processor must also sit on a lot that meets the minimum lot area of its district and operate in an indoor, enclosed and secure facility.