Newark, OH Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Newark does not ban cannabis businesses citywide. The zoning code sorts them district by district. Section 1260.04 makes medical marijuana and adult use dispensaries a conditional use in the MB Medium Intensity Business District, and the HB, GB, LC and GC chapters repeat the listing in Sections 1261.04(c), 1262.04(c), 1263.04(c) and 1264.04(c), each time by reference to the authority and limitations set forth at Chapter 1260, Section 1260.04. That is five business districts where a dispensary can apply to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a conditional use permit.

Three districts shut dispensaries out. Section 1265.021 says that, notwithstanding the provisions of Section 1265.01 Permitted Uses, the listed uses are prohibited in the DC Downtown District, whose purpose under Section 1265.01 is the orderly development of downtown Newark. Subsection (e) names medical marijuana dispensaries as defined at OAC 3796:1-1-01(13) and adult use dispensaries as defined at R.C. § 3780.01(A)(5), subsection (f) names cultivators, and subsection (g) names processors. Section 1266.15 prohibits dispensaries in the LI Limited Industrial District and Section 1267.15 prohibits them in the GI General Industrial District, both with Ordinance 24-18-A, passed 9-16-24, in the printed history.

Cultivation and processing run the opposite way in industry. Sections 1266.04(e) and (f) list medical marijuana cultivators and processors as conditional uses in the LI district, and Sections 1267.04(q) and (r) do the same in the GI district, each provided the facility is in full and complete compliance with the OAC, the Ohio Revised Code and all applicable licensing and reporting requirements of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Newark, Ohio.

Where a dispensary is allowed, the Section 1260.04 buffer applies: not within 1,000 feet of a parcel holding a school, church, public library, public playground, public park or community addiction services provider, and not within a two mile radius of another marijuana dispensary.