Wayne, NJ Cannabis Regulations: Dispensary Zoning (2026)

Section 134-28.1 of the Wayne Township Code is titled Uses prohibited in all districts and opens with the rule that all uses not expressly permitted in Article III are prohibited. Subsection H then names cannabis: all classes (1 through 6) of cannabis establishment, cannabis distributors and cannabis delivery services, including cultivators, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, testing facilities, medical cannabis dispensaries, clinical registrants and alternative treatment centers deemed to hold a medical cannabis dispensary permit, are expressly prohibited within the Township of Wayne. The ordinance table at the back of the Code lists Ord. No. 16-2021, dated 4-7-2021, as a Land Development Amendment that amends § 134-28.1 on cannabis regulations, and the same date appears in the section's history note.

Because the prohibition covers every district, there is no zone to look up and no buffer distance to measure. A would-be operator also meets the zoning permit gate. Section 134-26.3 requires a zoning permit before anyone commences a use or changes an existing use, and the Zoning Officer issues one only where the use is permitted in the proposed location. Section 134-26.1 adds that any deviation proposed from the use and bulk requirements of the article requires a variance under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c or d.

Cannabis shares the prohibited list with quarrying or mining, trucking terminals and truck stops, junk yards, outdoor furnaces, storage containers, boarding houses and rooming houses. The Zoning Officer, a member of the Planning Department, enforces the chapter. This page covers Wayne Township in Passaic County, New Jersey only, not Wayne County or any other Wayne.