Modesto, CA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

7-1, which limits commercial cannabis uses to the C-2, C-3, C-M, M-1 and M-2 zones and requires a Commercial Cannabis Permit (CCP) in every case; no home-based cannabis business is permitted anywhere in the city. The 600-foot school/child care/youth center buffer and the 200-foot park and library buffer are both measured from the nearest property lines, so a site does not need to touch the protected use to be disqualified. The 100-foot residential buffer is measured differently, from the building or structure housing the cannabis use to an existing residential structure, not to the residential parcel's line.

A fifth rule closes off downtown entirely: the Downtown Cannabis Prohibition Overlay bans every commercial cannabis use regardless of the underlying zoning, covering properties fronting or lying within Kansas Avenue (Highway 99 to 9th Street), Needham Street, Downey Avenue (McHenry Avenue to Burney Street), Burney Street (Downey Avenue to Jennie Street), D Street (Jennie Street to Highway 99) and the Highway 99 frontage inside that boundary; a parcel only partly inside the overlay is fully prohibited. Retail licenses (Types 9, 10, and the retail portion of a Type 12 microbusiness) are further excluded from the Business Park land use designation of adopted specific plans, a carve-out that does not reach cultivation, manufacturing, distribution or testing uses. 707 before the City Manager's office will issue a CCP.