Owensboro, KY Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Owensboro's medical cannabis buffer comes from the joint Owensboro-Daviess County Zoning Ordinance rather than a separate cannabis chapter of the Municipal Code, and it applies identically across every license type the Zoning Ordinance recognizes. Appendix F Section 8.4, Note 60(a) sets the rule for a medical cannabis dispensary: it cannot locate within 1,000 feet of an existing primary or secondary school or daycare for children, with the distance measured in a straight line from parcel boundary to parcel boundary rather than along a street or path. Note 61(b) repeats the identical 1,000-foot, boundary-to-boundary measurement for a medical cannabis cultivator, processor, producer, or safety compliance facility, so every stage of the licensed supply chain carries the same school and daycare setback.

Both notes state the separation is required by KRS and is not subject to relief by a dimensional variance, meaning the Owensboro Metropolitan Board of Adjustment cannot grant an exception even where a site is otherwise well suited to the use. A cultivator also faces its own zone limit under Note 61(a): cultivation is permitted only in the A-R and A-U agricultural zones, and only within unincorporated Daviess County, not inside the City of Owensboro's corporate limits. Because the buffer runs from parcel boundary to parcel boundary, an applicant measures from the edge of the school or daycare's own lot rather than from a building or playground, and the Zoning Administrator checks that distance against Daviess County property records before authorizing a permit.