Los Angeles enforces strict distance buffers between cannabis retailers and sensitive uses: 700 feet from schools, 600 feet from public parks and libraries, and 500 feet from another licensed cannabis retailer, measured from the retailer's property line.
LAMC Section 104.03 sets the local buffer rules on top of state baselines in MAUCRSA Business and Professions Code Section 26054, which itself bars retail within 600 feet of K-12 schools, daycares, and youth centers. LA's stricter 700-foot K-12 school buffer applies citywide. Distances are measured property line to property line along the most direct pedestrian path. Pre-existing licensed sites can sometimes continue when a sensitive use opens later, but new applications are denied if any buffer is breached on the application date. DCR verifies compliance during the pre-application Business Premises Application review.
Operating within a buffer triggers denial or revocation of the LA cannabis license, civil penalties under LAMC Section 11.00, and potential state action by the Department of Cannabis Control against the state license.
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