Marin County, CA Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)
Key Facts
- Max delivery-only licenses
- 4 countywide
- Allowed zoning districts
- C1, CP, AP, OP, IP
- School/day care/youth center buffer
- 600 feet
- Playground buffer
- 600 feet
- Outdoor cultivation
- Completely prohibited
- Storefront walk-in retail
- Banned
Summary
Marin County caps licensed medicinal cannabis retail at four delivery-only licenses countywide and confines them to five zoning districts: C1, CP, AP, OP and IP. Marin County Code § 5.90.061 also bars a retailer within 600 feet of any school, day care center, youth center or playground, and walk-in storefront sales stay banned under Chapter 6.83.
A MCDORe may only be located within the following coastal and non-coastal zoning districts: C1, CP, AP, OP, and IP.(b)A MCDORe shall not be allowed within the specified distances to the following uses that are in existence at the time the license is issued. The distance specified in this section shall be measured in the same manner as provided in subdivision (c) of California Health and Safety Code Section 11362.768, as may be amended from time to time. Specifically, the following buffers shall apply:(1)Within a six hundred-foot radius of a school, day care center, or youth center as required by California Business and Professions Code Section 26054, as may be amended from time to time.(2)Within a six hundred-foot radius of a playground, which is in addition to the uses required per California Business and Professions Code Section 26054.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Municipal Code: Supplement 2026 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
2(b)(2). 071(d)). An applicant must clear a three-phase county review: prescreening background checks, a 100-point scored application (twenty points business plan, fifty points operating plan, thirty points public-benefits plan) requiring an 80 percent score to advance, and a site review, before the board of supervisors grants or denies the license at a public hearing. 061 then restricts where a licensed retailer's closed-to-the-public premises can sit: only the C1, CP, AP, OP and IP zoning districts qualify, and the retailer must sit outside a 600-foot radius of a school, day care center or youth center under Business and Professions Code § 26054, and outside a separate 600-foot radius of any playground.
Violations & Fines
Operating a storefront cannabis business or an outdoor cannabis grow in unincorporated Marin without the required state and county authorization is a misdemeanor under § 6.83.050, charged as a separate offense for each day it continues, and is independently declared a public nuisance abatable under Chapter 1.05. A licensed MCDORe operating outside the C1, CP, AP, OP or IP districts, or inside a 600-foot buffer from a school, day care, youth center or playground, violates § 5.90.061 and risks license revocation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I open a walk-in cannabis dispensary in unincorporated Marin?
Can I grow cannabis outdoors at my home in unincorporated Marin?
Where can a licensed cannabis delivery business actually locate?
How many cannabis retail licenses does the county issue?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Marin County
California rules heatmap·Compare Marin County to another location·View the California cannabis regulations overview
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