Coconut Creek, FL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 13-321(d)(2) of the Coconut Creek Code sets three separation rules for a medical marijuana treatment center: no location within 1,000 feet of another treatment center, no location within 500 feet of the real property that comprises an elementary, middle or secondary school, and no location in the same tenant space as any of a listed group of medical uses, such as a clinic, hospital, pain clinic, nursing home or urgent care center. Subsection (d)(3) gives a medical marijuana dispensary a single buffer, the same 500 feet from school property.

The measuring method matters. Under (d)(2)e and (d)(3)b, distance runs by pedestrian travel from any point of ingress or egress at the center or dispensary to any point of ingress or egress at the protected use. That is the walking route, so a school across a canal or a fence line can count as farther than a straight line suggests. Each application must include a survey sealed by a Florida-registered land surveyor showing the distance to every use covered by these subsections (section 13-321(d)(1)q).

The code protects an approved operator from later changes. Under (d)(2)d, if a school is established within 500 feet of an existing, lawfully approved treatment center, that school does not violate the subsection and is not cause to revoke the special land use approval. The code sets buffers for schools and other centers only. It contains no separate park, church or daycare distance in this section. The City Commission still weighs the application under the special land use criteria of section 13-35.