A marijuana dispensary based in Mesquite, Nev., has gained approval to to build a similar pot shop in West Wendover, a short jaunt from Salt Lake City.
The West Wendover City Council on Tuesday night approved Deep Roots Harvest’s plan to construct a medical marijuana dispensary in the city’s industrial area, located off U.S. Highway 93 and south of the casinos.
In July, the council approved an ordinance that allows a marijuana dispensary. And Tuesday’s vote was the result of a bidding process open to existing marijuana businesses in Nevada, however, only one qualified applicant — Deep Roots Harvest — submitted the required materials, City Manager Chris Melville said at the meeting.
Melville and Mayor Daniel Corona expressed their pleasure with the company’s proposal. The council took a trip to inspect the company’s Mesquite facility in the spring and talk with Mesquite officials, and they came away happy with it.
“I’m very impressed with the thoroughness of the application,” Corona said Tuesday. It was reviewed by committee made up of several city officials, including Melville.
According to the application presented to the council, Deep Roots plans to have an 8,500-square-foot facility that includes a dispensary and production area. The total cost would be $1.9 million, and it would take about nine months to build.
The company also pitched the city a tentative second phase of its project, which would include a 42,000-square-foot marijuana cultivation and production facility, costing $3.5 million.
The company told city officials the facilities would employ 44 employees making an average of $16 to $17 per hour.
Although the West Wendover ordinance approved over the summer is specific to medical marijuana, Corona has said he intends to work with council members toward approval of recreational marijuana by the time the medical dispensary is set to open next year.
Deep Roots Harvest’s Mesquite location began selling recreational marijuana in July, along with other pot shops around the state, drawing dozens of southern Utahns on its opening day. West Wendover could soon be the closest place for northern Utahns to get their weed.