Forsyth County, GA Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

The Forsyth County Unified Development Code does not use the word dispensary for the use it regulates. A. 16-12-206, and it excludes a bona fide full-service pharmacy that keeps a licensed pharmacist on site during all business hours and is also authorized to dispense medical marijuana. The definition then states the rule: a specialty pharmacy shall require a conditional use permit. 1, the permitted-use table for the commercial and office districts, marks Specialty pharmacy with a C in the Neighborhood Shopping (NS), Urban Village (UV), Commercial Business (CBD), Highway Business (HB), Heavy Commercial (HC), Business Park (BP) and Office Commercial Multiple Story (OCMS) districts, and with an X in the Office and Institutional (O&I) and Office Residential (OR) districts.

A C means the use is conditional and an X means it is not permitted, so there is no district in Forsyth County where a specialty pharmacy opens by right. Three overlay districts go further. 3(o) removes it from the Coal Mountain Overlay District. The conditional use permit itself follows UDC chapter 8. 5 the applicant files an application for zoning review, county staff hold a zoning review meeting and issue a written staff review, and the applicant runs a public participation meeting. 4(e) makes its findings a recommendation to the board of commissioners, which issues the final decision.

The public-notice sign affidavit is due no later than the twenty-first day before the scheduled hearing, and a missed deadline sends the applicant back to another zoning review meeting. Once a conditional use permit is granted the holder has 18 months to commence development, which the code defines as applying for and receiving a land disturbance permit for the approved project.