McLean County, IL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

McLean County Code § 350-43CCC sets the buffer distance for a cannabis cultivation center: it cannot locate closer than 1,000 feet from the lot line of school grounds, a playground, a public park, a house of worship, a public library, a day-care center, or a lot for which the principal use is a residence. The section also imposes site-specific lighting controls, requiring that facility lighting be restricted from passing through the side walls and roofs at night and that parking lot lighting be directed on-site with spillover limited from entering neighboring properties.

Once a cannabis cultivation center receives its Illinois state license, § 350-43CCC requires the business to notify the county's Director of Building and Zoning within 30 days. This 1,000-foot buffer is twice the 500-foot distance the county sets for other cannabis businesses under the neighboring § 350-43DDD, reflecting the larger scale and cultivation-specific impacts, such as odor and lighting, of a growing operation compared with a dispensary or craft grower storefront. As with all § 350-43 use standards, this buffer governs only land in unincorporated McLean County; a cultivation center inside Bloomington or Normal is subject to those cities' own cannabis zoning rules, not this county section.