San Luis Obispo County, CA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

San Luis Obispo County allows only non-storefront cannabis retailers, meaning delivery-only dispensaries operating from a permanent structure; Sec. 1 bans dispensaries open to the public for retail sales and prohibits any dispensary requiring a Type 10 (storefront) State license. Those non-storefront dispensaries are allowed only in the Agriculture, Commercial Service within an Urban Reserve Line, Industrial, Residential Rural, and Rural Lands land use categories, and require Minor Use Permit approval under Sec. B. Location standards for an approved dispensary are set in Subsection D. Sec.

090(D)(1)(a) draws the buffer at 600 feet, measured "from the structure that contains the dispensary to the property line of the enumerated use using a direct straight-line measurement," from every pre-school, elementary, junior high or high school, library, park, playground, recreation or youth center, and any licensed drug or alcohol recovery facility or sober living facility. The buffer is not absolute: it can be reduced below 600 feet from a library, park, playground, recreation center, recovery facility or sober living facility through Conditional Use Permit approval, but only if the Commission first makes the additional findings required by Sec.

090(E)(2). Dispensaries must also meet a 50-foot setback from riparian vegetation and a 100-foot setback from any wetland under Sec. 090(D)(2), and hours of operation follow the state Department of Cannabis Control's rules under Sec. 090(D)(3).