Margate, FL Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Section 40.615 of the Margate Land Development Code, titled Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Dispensing, is a city-wide prohibition rather than a zoning district standard. Subsection (A)1 states the purpose: to prohibit Medical Treatment Centers created under Art. X, § 29 of the Florida Constitution and Chapter 2017-232, Laws of Florida, codified in F.S. chapter 381, as amended from time to time, from establishing Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Dispensing Facilities within the municipal limits of the City of Margate.

Subsection (A)2 records the City Commission's findings. Based on authority granted to municipalities in F.S. § 381.986(11), as amended, the Commission finds that a ban on the establishment of Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Dispensaries within the City of Margate is in the best interest of the City. That is the city's own stated basis for the opt-out.

Subsection (A)3 is the operative prohibition. Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Dispensing Facilities are prohibited within the boundaries of the City of Margate, and no variance, special exception or other procedural or regulatory exemption to the ban can be processed or granted by the City. An applicant cannot cure the problem with a special exception hearing before the City Commission, a variance request, or a distance-based site search, because no location qualifies.

The section sits in Division 2, Specific Use Regulations, next to the rules for adult entertainment, alcoholic beverages, arcades, vehicle fueling stations, home occupations and pain management clinics. Unlike the pain management clinic section, which allows that use by special exception in listed districts, § 40.615 offers no approval path.