Wicomico County, MD Cannabis Regulations: Buffer Zones (2026)

Wicomico County added cannabis business siting standards to its Zoning Code by Bill No. 2023-16 in 2023 and amended them by Bill No. 1. Section A bars a cannabis business from locating within 500 feet of any preexisting primary or secondary school anywhere in the state, within 500 feet of a preexisting licensed child-care center, registered family child-care home, playground, recreation center, library, place of assembly or public park, within 2,640 feet, roughly half a mile, of another cannabis business, and within 100 feet of a preexisting residence.

Under Subsection D, every one of those distances is measured from the boundary of the real property owned or leased by the protected use, meaning the school, park or residence, not from the cannabis business's front door, and neither the primary building nor any accessory structure belonging to the cannabis business may sit inside the resulting buffer. The only way around a buffer is a special exception from the Board of Appeals under Subsection E, which lets the Board modify the Subsection A distances case by case after a hearing rather than granting a blanket variance.

These separation rules apply on top of the general requirement, addressed separately, that a cannabis business also be a listed permitted use under the county's Table of Permitted Uses at § 225-67 for the zoning district in question. A landowner or licensee proposing a location in unincorporated Wicomico County needs to check both the district-by-district use table and every one of the four separation distances before applying, since failing either one blocks the site regardless of state cannabis licensing.