Okaloosa County, FL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 2.20.10(5) of the Land Development Code sets a flat 500-foot separation between a medical marijuana dispensing facility or treatment center and any pre-existing public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school, and the rule reaches schools "located in either unincorporated or incorporated Okaloosa County," so a dispensary sited in the unincorporated county still has to measure against city schools across a municipal boundary. The code defines exactly how to measure the distance: it is a radius from the closest improved part of the property, excluding stormwater treatment facilities and landscape buffers, supporting the dispensing facility to the nearest parcel of land on which the school sits. Stormwater ponds and landscape buffers on the dispensary's own parcel do not count toward pushing the measuring point closer to the school. If any part of the school's parcel, even a corner of a large campus, falls inside that 500-foot radius, the section deems the entire dispensing facility to be within the buffer, regardless of how the buildings themselves are laid out.

The buffer applies only to schools; the section does not extend a separation requirement to parks, playgrounds, daycare centers, or churches, so a dispensary that clears the 500-foot school radius does not need to independently check distances to those other uses under this provision. The rule sits inside the same section that requires dispensaries to avoid drive-through service and on-site consumption, so a facility has to clear the buffer test before Growth Management will consider the balance of § 2.20.10's siting and operational requirements.