Anyone looking to start a marijuana business in Renton is going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

The Renton City Council on Monday passed a six-month moratorium on all marijuana-related businesses, including production, manufacturing, retail and medical uses.

The moratorium is designed to allow the council the opportunity to draft new rules on how the city deals with the formerly illegal enterprises, including zoning, though council President Randy Corman was quick to say the council was not trying to ban the businesses from the city.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces we have to put in place,” Corman said. “It is important for this community we get it right.”

The council earlier this year discussed simply treating the retail outlets as though they were liquor stores, but opted for the moratorium in order to develop the appropriate rules for placement and zoning of all marijuana businesses, not just retail shops.

“This has the potential to change our landscape,” he said, adding that the council was “not leaning toward a ban.”

The moratorium, which some councilmembers said they did not have a chance to see prior to the Monday’s meeting, passed unanimously.

Prior to the regular meeting, the council received a briefing on recreational marijuana and a recommendation of a moratorium during the Committee of the Whole meeting.

Senior Planner Angie Mathias led the council through the presentation that began by explaining some of the rules set up by the state Liquor Control Board, the agency in charge of drafting rules for recreational marijuana businesses, including the 1,000-foot buffer from schools, playgrounds, recreation centers, parks, libraries, transit centers and arcades, among others.

She also showed a map highlighting the areas of the city that would be off-limits to such businesses under the 100-foot buffer.

However, Mathias said the city is yet to determine what the zoning should be on most marijuana business, especially producers and processors.

“Does a producer mean agriculture?” she asked. “Do we want to categorize it as something else?”

Presently, Renton has no zoning in place for these businesses.

Mathias also highlighted some of what surrounding cities have done on the issue, noting that while Kent has banned all businesses, cities like Bellevue, Kirkland and Tukwila have all adopted rules while King County, Issaquah, Seattle and Tacoma have all proposed rules, though they have not bet been passed into law. As an example, Mathias pointed to a rule in Belevue, Kirkland and Tukwila, among others, that limits growing and processing to industrial zones.

“We haven’t taken the time to really … work through that,” Mathias said.

Councilmembers discussed some of the questions yet to be answered and all thought a moratorium was a prudent idea to give staff more time to consider the many issues.

“I just think there’s so many issues with this we don’t understand,” said Councilman Don Persson, a former police officer.

“I appreciate that we want to take a step back,” said Councilman Greg Taylor.

Both also said the city would not ban the businesses because the voters had spoken.