Kalamazoo, MI Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Kalamazoo's marihuana location criteria in Section 50-4.4E(1)(b) apply to every licensed adult-use marihuana establishment type except a safety compliance operation, which tests product rather than serving customers on-site. The rule sets two separate buffers. First, a marihuana establishment cannot operate within 1,000 feet of a preexisting private or public school offering kindergarten through 12th-grade education. Second, it cannot operate within 500 feet of a preexisting state-licensed childcare center, public playground, public pool or youth center. Section 50-4.4E(1)(b)[2] specifies how the City measures both distances: in a straight line from the nearest property line of the protected school, childcare center, playground, pool or youth center to the nearest portion of the building or unit housing the marihuana establishment, without regard to intervening structures.

These buffers apply on top of the zoning-district limits in Section 50-4.4E(1)(a), which already bar any marihuana establishment from a residential zoning district or unit and keep retailers off Local Neighborhood and Enhanced Neighborhood street frontages. Section 50-4.4E(1)(a)[2] extends the buffer analysis to protected uses located in adjacent governmental jurisdictions such as Kalamazoo Township, Oshtemo Township or Portage, not just those inside the city limits, and Section 50-4.4E(1)(a)[1] applies the same distances to a proposed relocation of an existing establishment, not only new ones. Community Planning and Economic Development checks these distances during zoning and site-plan review before a marihuana establishment can receive its Chapter 20B City license.