{"id":48748,"date":"2021-02-07T04:59:18","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T11:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-residents-hold-small-protest-over-livwell-move-to-millwood-building\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:44:20","slug":"mancos-residents-hold-small-protest-over-livwell-move-to-millwood-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-residents-hold-small-protest-over-livwell-move-to-millwood-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos residents hold small protest over LivWell move to Millwood building"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=121ee9e6-b956-4642-8b5d-cea2f240176b&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" alt=\"LivWell\u2019s current location at 449 Railroad Ave. in Mancos.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">LivWell\u2019s current location at 449 Railroad Ave. in Mancos.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Anthony Nicotera\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>A few Mancos residents gathered near the current location of marijuana dispensary LivWell Saturday afternoon to sign a petition and object to the company\u2019s move to the building that was formerly home to the Millwood Junction restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>Those that were there Saturday passed around petitions and discussed the implications of LivWell\u2019s move.<\/p>\n<p>As with the Jan. 27 meeting of the Mancos Board of Trustees that signed off on the move, residents voiced objections to the proximity of the building to nearby Boyle Park and potential traffic issues that they say the move may create.<\/p>\n<p>The board approved the location based on a measurement by Town Administrator Heather Alvarez and Marshal Goodall, as well as a measurement from licensed surveyor SGM.<\/p>\n<p>Some locals drew attention to an unsolicited measurement from licensed surveyor Dugan McDonald that concluded the building is less than 500 feet from the park.<\/p>\n<p>Organizer Hannah Vanmeter acknowledged that Mancos locals like herself would have to begrudgingly accept the move if the building is proven to be 500 feet from the park.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt that point, we don\u2019t really have a fight. They met all the town ordinances, and there\u2019s nothing else we can do. I\u2019m a firm believer in personal property rights. A lot of people just don\u2019t think that it\u2019s 500 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vanmeter, like many residents, miss the days when the building was a restaurant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Millwood was a great restaurant for 42 years. It\u2019s been like a social hub. I moved here five years ago, and it\u2019s pretty much how I know everyone here in Mancos,\u201d Vanmeter said.<\/p>\n<p>There was also the issue of the town\u2019s reputation. While most said they have no problems with retail marijuana, some residents would rather see the building remain empty than have it become a dispensary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now, we\u2019re known as an artist community and the gateway to Mesa Verde,\u201d said Michael Looman. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be known as a pot town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LivWell general counsel Anna Hatch said at the Jan. 27 meeting that the company did not mean to cause controversy and pointed out that LivWell will spend $800,000 on building and landscape improvements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe serve your citizens, we serve your tourists, we employ your citizens and we really love being a part of this community,\u201d Hatch said.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:anicotera@the-journal.com\">anicotera@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by decision allowing the move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,83,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87450,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48748\/revisions\/87450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48748"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}