Henderson medical pot dispensary proposed at Galleria mall

One of Henderson’s first medical marijuana dispensaries could be next to the Galleria at Sunset mall under a proposal submitted Tuesday.

Wellness Connection of Nevada decided on the new site after the city rejected its plan to open a dispensary on Sunset Road, less than a mile west of the mall.

It wants to open the dispensary next to the mall, though in a building near Buffalo Wild Wings that is not owned by the mall.

Wellness Connection’s lawyer, Trevor Hayes, told the City Council on Tuesday night he disagreed with the rejection of the previous site.

But he added: “You guys don’t want it there, so our intention is to do everything we can … to move to another site.”

In July, city zoning staff denied the company’s plans to open at 1620 W. Sunset Road, finding the site was about 750 feet from a public park. City law says no dispensary can be within 1,000 feet of a park.

Wellness Connection disputed the city’s calculation, saying only an undeveloped wetlands area of the park is within 1,000 feet of the building it planned to use. The developed part of the park, Hayes told the council, is 1,800 feet or more from the planned dispensary building.

Wellness Connection appealed to the Planning Commission, which rejected the appeal in September. Wellness Connection then filed another appeal, which the City Council unanimously rejected Tuesday night.

But the council’s action was largely a formality, as the company already had decided on the new site at the mall.

Hayes said Wellness Connection signed a lease for the mall property Monday and filed papers Tuesday asking the city for a new “distance separation analysis.”

Henderson could have up to five dispensaries under Clark County’s system for implementing the state medical marijuana law passed last year.

The state approved provisional licenses in November for five Henderson dispensaries, which are scheduled to go before the City Council in a public meeting Feb. 10.