An application for a third retail cannabis store in Merritt will be before city council tomorrow.

The city’s director of corporate services Sean Smith says a business wants to open a store at 3320 River Ranch Road, currently a vacant storefront just off of the Coquihalla which was formerly the Nicola Valley Dollar Mart.

“Frankly I think I’m excited to see a dispensary coming forward in that area of our city, the De Wolfe – gas station area, because we hadn’t had an application up there yet,” Smith says.

“I don’t know if there’s any advantages on the council side, other than the fact that it’s I think good for citizens or travellers or people passing through to have a bit of diversity in terms of where these are located. I know that there’s different schools of thought on that, but when the original discussions were going to council I think it was seen as an asset that these would be spread out a little bit across the city.”

Smith says the application meets all zoning requirements, and says the city’s bylaw will allow for up four retail cannabis storefronts within city limits.

To date, Merritt city council has supported the other two sales license applications to the province that they have seen.