Broomfield, CO Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 5-42-090 sets the locational requirements every marijuana establishment license application must satisfy in Broomfield, and subsection (C) lists the minimum required setbacks a proposed location has to clear before the licensing authority can grant a license or approve a change of location. Paragraph (C)(2) bars any licensed premises from sitting less than 1,000 feet from any public or private school serving kindergarten through twelfth grade, and paragraph (C)(3) separately bars a licensed premises from sitting less than 1,000 feet from any drug or alcohol treatment facility.

Subsection (B) specifies how that distance is measured: from the parcel boundary of the parcel where the premises is proposed to the parcel boundary of the adjacent protected use, not from building to building or lot line to nearest structure. Paragraph (C)(4) adds a further 1,000-foot separation between any two licensed marijuana premises themselves, subject to a narrow carve-out for applicants from the second round of the city's initial 2022-23 licensing process, and paragraph (C)(1) layers on a citywide ban on residentially zoned or used property that functions as its own buffer against every residential district listed in the section.

Because Broomfield capped the total number of marijuana establishment licenses at six under section 5-42-120(E), these setback rules do most of the work of steering the small number of licensed stores away from schools, treatment facilities, each other, and residential neighborhoods within the city's limited commercial and industrial zoning.