Osceola County, FL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 14-172(b), part of the county's medical marijuana treatment center licensing article adopted by Ord. No. 2016-97, sets two separate spacing rules. No treatment center may sit within five miles of another treatment center, and none may sit within 250 feet of any public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school or a licensed daycare facility. The ordinance protects centers that comply when sited: if a school or daycare is established within 250 feet of an already-operating, compliant center afterward, that center does not violate the section and cannot be forced to relocate.

Where the 250-foot buffer creates a conflict between two applicants, priority goes to whichever substantially completed application was received first. Measurements run from the nearest property line of the school or daycare to the nearest property line of the treatment center, or, for a center inside a multi-tenant building, to the nearest line of the leasehold or space the center actually occupies (§ 14-172(c)). An applicant must submit a certified survey from a Florida-registered engineer showing both the five-mile radius and the 250-foot separation from the proposed site as part of the premises-authorization application. These buffers operate on top of, not instead of, Osceola County's numerical cap of one certificate of approval per 100,000 residents under § 14-170.