Kitsap County, WA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

345, each using identical language, that the use 'must be a minimum of one thousand feet away, as measured by the shortest straight line between property boundaries,' from any elementary or secondary school, playground, recreation center or facility, child care center, public park, public transit center, library, or game arcade, as defined in WAC 314-55-010. Because the standard is measured property-line to property-line rather than building to building, a large sensitive-use parcel, such as a school campus, can push the buffer well beyond a single building footprint.

The buffer applies only in unincorporated Kitsap County; Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island each set their own cannabis siting rules inside city limits. , and that neither state nor county rules preempt federal law or excuse a violation of it, so local zoning compliance does not immunize an operator from federal exposure. The buffer sits alongside, not instead of, the underlying Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board license requirement under Chapter 314-55 WAC: a site can only host a marijuana business if it is both licensed by the state and clears the county's one-thousand-foot distance test.