A Cortez medical marijuana dispensary wants to nearly triple the size of its production operations.
According to municipal records, Billy Sanchez has requested to expand an existing 3,600-square-foot structure to 9,000 square feet. The Lebanon Road property that Sanchez owns is rented to Herbal Alternative Medicine, a medical marijuana dispensary.
“The submitted application indicates the addition is being requested for the purpose of a larger production area, as the current building is not large enough to handle demand,” city planning and building director Kristen Sacket wrote in a memo.
The city land-use code would require the expanded building to provide 30 parking places, but planning and zoning commissioners granted a special exemption in October to require only 12 parking spaces.
Montezuma County Health Department officials have indicated that if additional employees are hired, then the building must tap into the Cortez Sanitation District system, rather than rely on the structure’s current septic tank.
A city moratorium prohibits any new medical marijuana facilities, but the ban only applies to new medical marijuana licenses.
City leaders will address the proposed 5,400-square-foot site-development plan tonight at City Hall during a regular scheduled meeting.
At tonight’s 7:30 p.m. meeting, city officials will also weigh November expenditures, which total nearly $127,000. Some of those expenses include nearly $800 for easels, $700 to Axis Health Center for inmate housing, nearly $300 to cater the 25th anniversary of the Welcome Center, nearly $7,700 for Colorado Municipal League membership dues and more than $5,000 for fuel from Fraley and Co.
The city council is also expected to set a series of public hearings at tonight’s meeting. One hearing would be held in regard to amending the 2013 fiscal year budget. An extra $357,695 is needed to offset 2013 expenses.
The other public hearing would be held before approval of a $26.6 million budget for fiscal year 2014. Both public hearings will be held Dec. 10, if approved.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com
