The city of Cortez unanimously approved a plan for a Cortez marijuana dispensary to relocate directly across the street from its current location.

After a public hearing last week, The Beacon, owned by Denver-based LivWell, was given the nod to relocate from its current facility next to Tequila’s Mexican Restaurant on East Main Street directly across the street to a facility that once housed the Cedarwood Animal Clinic.

Dispensary manager Nate Fete told city officials that the move was projected to double sales and increase available job opportunities.

The footprint of the current 2,500-square-foot animal clinic isn’t expected to increase, but the facility will be remodeled and additional parking constructed to meet dispensary demands. At the public hearing, no one spoke in opposition to the site development plan.

City officials have indicated the dispensary would remain just over the legal threshold required – 1,500 feet – from the new Montezuma-Cortez High School on South Sligo Street.

tbaker@the-journal.com