Haverford, PA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Haverford Township Code § 182-1207 sets the standards for medical marijuana dispensary uses, added by Ord. No. 2810 on June 12, 2017. Subsection B is the buffer from protected uses: a dispensary facility shall not be located within 1,000 feet of the boundary of any institutional zoning district or the property line of any parcel containing an institutional zoning use, including, but not limited to, public, private and parochial schools and day-care centers. The text names schools and day-care centers; it does not name parks.

The measuring method is fixed in the code. Distance runs in a straight line from the closest exterior wall of the building, or the portion of it, in which the dispensary is located to the closest property line of the protected district or use. The measurement ignores municipal boundaries, so a school across the line in a neighboring township still counts.

Subsection C is a spacing rule between dispensaries: a dispensary facility must be a minimum of 1,000 feet from the next nearest medical marijuana dispensary facility, measured along a straight line between the closest walls of each of the two facilities. Subsection A adds that a dispensary facility must have a single secure public entrance and implement security measures in accordance with policies of the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The buffers sit on top of a discretionary approval. Section 182-406 lists a medical marijuana dispensary as a conditional use in the C-5 Shopping Center Commercial District, authorized by the Board of Commissioners after review by the Township Planning Commission, in accordance with § 182-1207. The applicant makes a written request to the Board of Commissioners under § 182-1202, and § 182-1203 sets the hearing to begin not later than 60 days after the request is filed unless the applicant consents in writing to more time. Grower and processor facilities fall under § 182-1208, which prints emission and disposal standards rather than a distance buffer.