Fairfield, CA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

18(c) prohibits any commercial cannabis business permitted for retail, manufacturing, or testing lab operations from locating closer than 600 feet to a public or private school serving kindergarten through 12th grade, a licensed child day care center, or a youth center. The buffer only protects sensitive uses that are already in existence on the date a cannabis business permit application is deemed complete, so a school built afterward does not retroactively push out an operating dispensary. The distance is measured as the horizontal straight-line distance from the property line of the parcel holding the sensitive use to the closest property line of the parcel proposed for the cannabis business, without regard to intervening buildings or streets.

18(a) and (b), so a proposed site must clear the 600-foot sensitive-use buffer in addition to sitting in an eligible zoning district; Fairfield's cannabis ordinance does not add a separate buffer for parks, churches, or residential zones the way its adult entertainment ordinance does. Applicants demonstrate compliance with the buffer as part of the site plan and zoning verification submitted with a commercial cannabis business permit application, and the city's Community Development Department checks the distance before recommending approval. Because the buffer is fixed by ordinance rather than left to discretion, an application proposing a site within 600 feet of a qualifying school, day care, or youth center cannot be approved regardless of other merits.