Santa Barbara County, CA Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

075 sets the master framework for every category of commercial cannabis activity in unincorporated Santa Barbara County: cultivation, processing, distribution, manufacturing, testing, and retail. 2 caps eligibility to fourteen zoning districts: AG-I, AG-II, C-1, C-2, C-3, CS, SC, PI, M-RP, M-1, M-2, MU, CM-LA, OT-R/LC, and OT-R/GC. 4 directs applicants to Tables 4-10 through 4-13 to see which specific cannabis use gets which permit in which zone. For retail specifically, Table 4-10 shows both agricultural zones, AG-I and AG-II, marked with a dash, meaning cannabis retail is not an allowed use on agricultural land at all, even though cultivation and distribution can be sited there with a Conditional Use Permit.

Table 4-11 shows retail permitted with a Land Use Permit, subject to notes (2) and (3), in the Limited Commercial (C-1) and Retail Commercial (C-2) zones, but not in Neighborhood Commercial (CN). A continuation of Table 4-11 extends retail with a Land Use Permit into General Commercial (C-3) and Service Commercial (C-S), and with a Conditional Use Permit into Commercial-Limited Agriculture (CM-LA), while barring it from Highway Commercial (CH). 3, and commercial cannabis activities of every kind are barred outright within Existing Developed Rural Neighborhoods regardless of the underlying zone.