Redding, CA Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Section 6.12.350 of the Redding Municipal Code sets two separate buffer distances for cannabis businesses. As a general rule, no cannabis business of any kind can locate within six hundred feet of a school providing kindergarten through twelfth-grade instruction, a public park, a public library, or a youth-oriented facility (§ 6.12.350(A)). Cannabis retailers specifically face a stricter, one-thousand-foot buffer from the same list of protected uses (§ 6.12.350(B)). The code fixes exactly how the distance is measured: from the property line of the parcel where the cannabis business sits to the nearest property line occupied by the protected school, park, library, or youth facility, not from building to building or entrance to entrance (§ 6.12.350(C)).

The buffer requirement is enforced at the licensing stage: an applicant for a cannabis business license must submit evidence that the proposed premises complies with the locational restrictions in Section 6.12.350 in addition to the zoning standards in Title 18 of the code (§ 6.12.080(D)(20)). A site that fails the buffer distance cannot be licensed regardless of its zoning designation, and city staff verify the measurement as part of application review before any license is issued. Operating inside the buffer without qualifying is unlawful and treated as a public nuisance subject to the inspection and enforcement authority the director holds under Section 6.12.320.