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Just two weeks after it moved its cannabis ordinance out of a work session, the Austin City Council on Monday night opted to hold off on passing the ordinance to further consider buffer restrictions on potential cannabis businesses.

The move also comes in lieu of a decision by a Ramsey County judge, who in late November halted a planned lottery by the state to dispense the state’s first licenses in the state of Minnesota.

Realizing they now had time because of the ruling, council members opted to take a closer look at buffer zones in the city that would restrict how close to schools and daycares a cannabis business can be.

“You read what’s going on around us,” Council Member Geoff Baker said. “A lot of municipalities are taking a much more conservative approach to this.”

“I just think we need to be smart about it,” he continued. “It’s better to start out more restrictive than to start out more liberal.”

It was a general consensus among council members in attendance during Monday night’s meeting (Laura Helle and Jason Baskin were absent) that it’s better to start somewhat more restrictive and revisit the issue later if situations warrant it.

However, Council Member Mike Postma, who was in favor of bringing the ordinance to a vote, worried that by going forward with restrictions invites further issues down the road, noting that the state’s own guidelines restrict how much municipalities can regulate.

“The state hasn’t given us, as a city, a lot of control,” Postma said. “I think it just causes more headaches that we have to come back and fix later.”

The initial ordinance, moved out of a work session on Nov. 18,  followed a path set by the city’s alcohol and tobacco ordinance that dictated business zoning as well as public use.

And while there was some discussion regarding the issue of setbacks during that meeting, the ordinance was moved forward by a 4-0 vote with three being absent, to not establish setbacks at that time.

“The driving reason behind this is that if you do a certain number of feet, say from Austin High School, it would take out some crucial development areas,” City Attorney Craig Byram said during that November meeting. “A lot of cities are doing setbacks, but our understanding is we decided not to do that.”

During discussion Monday night, that concern of creating limitations seemed abated as distances of 1,000 feet and 300 feet were mentioned but were not decided on.

The issue has now been moved forward to the council’s Dec. 16 meeting with more work expected heading into 2025.