Longmont, CO Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 6.70.105 of the chapter governing marijuana establishments provides that "[n]o application for a license or for a change of location shall be granted which proposes a licensed premises within 250 feet of a residentially zoned area or within 1,000 feet of any school serving students in any grade from kindergarten through 12th grade, inclusive." The buffer applies to every category of local marijuana license Longmont issues: a marijuana store, a marijuana hospitality business, and a combined retail marijuana sales and hospitality business (§ 6.70.050). It is enforced as a locational gate on new applications and on any application to relocate an existing licensed premises, not as an ongoing operating condition once a license is final.

The code's own definition of "school" controls which campuses trigger the 1,000-foot line: a school "whose site development plan would be encompassed within the procedures of C.R.S. § 22-32-124(1) or (1.5)" (§ 6.70.020), the state statute covering public school site selection. Every application must also include a "separation information" exhibit, "a description and graphic representation of the location of the proposed licensed premises relative to the nearest residentially zoned area and the nearest school" (§ 6.70.110.J), so the buffer is verified as part of the paper record before the city clerk or designee opens the file for review.

Longmont's Local Marijuana Licensing Authority, on which the municipal judge or the judge's designee sits (§ 6.70.040.A), administers licensing citywide. Longmont sits mostly in Boulder County with a small area extending into Weld County, but the buffer applies uniformly under the municipal code regardless of which county a parcel falls in.