Lake Havasu City, AZ Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Development Code § 14.03.03C.17.a.ii sets four distinct buffers. First, no medical marijuana business may operate within 500 feet of a religious facility, the boundary of a residential zoning district or residential use, a public park, playground or recreational facility, or an establishment holding an Arizona spirituous liquor license. Second, no such business may operate within 1,000 feet of a school or day care center, a substantially wider buffer than the 500-foot residential and park standard. Third, a marijuana business may not be established within 1,000 feet of another medical marijuana business, marijuana establishment or marijuana testing facility, unless it is the same business at the same location, regardless of who owns each operation.

The code fixes how every one of these distances is measured: a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, running from the nearest property line of the marijuana business site to the nearest property line of the protected use or of the other marijuana business. Because the measurement ignores buildings and terrain between the two parcels, an applicant cannot rely on a winding travel route or an intervening structure to satisfy the buffer; only the straight-line property-to-property distance controls whether a site qualifies.