STEAMBOAT SPRINGS —Steamboat Springs has joined a growing list of municipalities in Colorado that have adopted emergency ordinances temporarily banning the establishment of private marijuana clubs.

Tuesday night’s Steamboat Springs City Council passage of an emergency moratorium will prevent the formation of any marijuana clubs within city limits until the council has a chance to start crafting a more permanent ordinance regulating all facets of Amendment 64, which legalized the consumption of marijuana in the state for adults 21 and older.

Whether the city plans to ban private pot clubs permanently won’t be clear until officials and the community have the chance to discuss it in detail.

As he proposed the emergency ordinance Tuesday night, Steamboat Springs Public Safety Director Joel Rae said it would help to eliminate a “gray area” and a loophole some are finding in Amendment 64.

“There are marijuana clubs popping up around the state of Colorado, and we’ve heard rumors of one or two possibly opening in Steamboat Springs,” Rae told the City Council. “We want a stop-gap on this issue.”

Rae said Wednesday that he and other city officials haven’t taken a position on whether private marijuana clubs ever should be allowed in the city.

Read more about the emergency ordinance.