Eden Prairie, MN Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Subdivision 5.A of Section 5.81, added by Ordinance No. 07-2025, sets two minimum distance rules before the City will grant a cannabis retail registration. The first bars a registration for any premises within 1,000 feet of a school, defined in Subdivision 2 as a public, charter, or private school serving kindergarten through grade 12; the buffer does not apply, however, to a registered business whose registration predates a school later opening within that 1,000-foot radius. The second bars a registration within 200 feet of an existing registered cannabis retail business, preventing clustering of retail cannabis storefronts.

Subdivision 5.A.3 fixes how both distances are measured: a straight line, ignoring any intervening buildings or objects, running from the nearest point of the property line of the parcel proposed for the cannabis retailer to the nearest point of the property line of the school or existing retailer. Subdivision 5.A.4 exempts lower-potency hemp edible retailers entirely from both buffer requirements, so a hemp edible retailer can locate within 1,000 feet of a school or within 200 feet of another cannabis retailer without violating this subdivision.

The buffer requirement is checked as part of the zoning verification the City performs under Subdivision 3.B.3 before a registration issues, and a business found to violate the buffer after registration is subject to the same suspension process under Subdivision 6 and the civil and misdemeanor penalties under Subdivision 7 that apply to other violations of the section.