Jake Lewis and Ryan Smith filed their application for their proposed Corvallis dispensary, called The Healing Center, on Monday morning.

“Even if someone was within 990 feet of us and they applied first, we wouldn’t be able to do that, so we wanted to make sure we did that as soon as possible,” Smith said.

The pair have leased 2,000 square feet at 300 S.W. Second Ave. and have completed the basic remodeling work needed to operate a dispensary at the site, including security measures required by the new law.

“Now we’ve just got to wait,” Smith said.

“We hope they’ll get back to us in a timely manner and we’ll be able to open soon,” Lewis said.

Burns said that the first approvals could begin trickling out the week of March 17. Dispensaries should not be open before they are officially approved.

Lewis and Smith have established a relationship with Dr. Kathleen Kleinert of Southern Oregon Alternative Medicine, who’s been seeing patients interested in qualifying for medical marijuana cards in nearby office space since December. She’ll move her Corvallis office to The Healing Center as soon as it opens.