Cocoa, FL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Appendix A, Article XI, Section 9 of the Cocoa Code of Ordinances allows a pharmacy, medical marijuana treatment center dispensing facility, apothecary or optical service as a principal use in the R-P, Residential Professional District, but it attaches a specific distance rule to the dispensing use: the facility cannot sit within five hundred feet of the real property that makes up a public or private elementary, middle or secondary school. That buffer is not absolute. The code lets the city council waive it by approving the location at a public hearing if the council determines that placing the dispensary there promotes the public health, safety and general welfare of the community, or as otherwise allowed under Florida Statutes Chapter 381.

986, Florida Statutes, Cocoa's role is limited to where a dispensing facility can locate within city limits, not whether the center can operate; the code excludes facilities that grow, cultivate or process marijuana or derivative products from this dispensing-facility definition entirely, so cultivation sites fall under different zoning rules. Recreational marijuana remains unlawful under Florida law, so this buffer applies only to the state-licensed medical dispensing use permitted in the R-P district.