Waukegan, IL Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

5 covers every category the code defines as a cannabis business establishment: craft grower, cultivation center, dispensary, infuser, processor, and transporter. Subsection a sets the minimum spacing at 1,000 feet from any lot zoned or used for residential purposes, plus any residential care facility, licensed childcare facility, library, school, college, university, or public park, measured without qualification in the ordinance text. The only relief is a reduction to 250 feet, and only where a major state roadway sits between the residential lot and the cannabis use.

Beyond spacing, subsection b bans on-site consumption of cannabis products outright. Subsection c requires site security meeting or exceeding state licensing standards, such as controlled access, vault storage, exterior lighting, and surveillance cameras. Subsection d requires the building's exterior to match surrounding commercial or industrial structures and bars any cannabis leaf, plant, smoke, or paraphernalia imagery, or youth-oriented language, on signage. Subsection e allows two or more cannabis business types to colocate on one lot and building only if each is separately licensed by the State of Illinois and has its own conditional use permit.

02-1 further confines Cannabis Dispensary to a conditional use in the B3, B4, E, Industrial, and L2 districts only; every other zoning district in the city is closed to it entirely.