Would cannabis cafés be allowed in St. Louis County? A proposed plan says yes.

Missouri’s new constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana leaves it up to local governments to decide whether they will allow businesses where customers may consume cannabis on-site — a café that sells coffee and joints, for instance, or a bakery that sells pot brownies. St. Louis County would allow such businesses with certain conditions under the proposed ordinance revisions.

“In Missouri, there are individuals already thinking about creating uses where cannabis can be used on-site,” said Jacob Trimble, director of planning for St. Louis County. “We want to be prepared.”

The plan would only apply to unincorporated areas and has to get final approval from the county council, but it already has the green light from the county planning department and nine-member appointed planning commission. A bill introducing the plan went before the council Tuesday night, though it could be weeks before it’s finalized.

The new statewide constitutional amendment legalized opening businesses where customers consume cannabis, said John Payne, the campaign director who led the legalization initiative. But a city or county could decide not to allow them.

“Amendment 3 empowers local governments to make those decisions,” Payne said.

The county’s proposal outlines regulations for “marijuana consumption facilities” and dispensaries that sell recreational pot. They have to be at least 1,000 feet from a school, child care center or church, and they must be at least 500 feet from another dispensary or package liquor store.

But those are just the initial requirements.

Any business or new dispensary selling recreational marijuana would have to first get individual approval from the county planning department and commission. They’d go through public hearings where the community could express their opinions. And they’d have to get approval from the seven-member county council.

“From our perspective, we’re sensitive to what the communities want,” said Wayne Hilzinger, chair of the planning commission. “We’re certainly not promoting it, but under the constitutional amendment, it’s permitted. All we’ve done at this point is address it within the ordinances.”

As soon as Monday, seven existing medical dispensaries in unincorporated county could begin selling recreational marijuana if the state approves their applications. It will be months before unincorporated county sees new dispensaries under a new state licensing process.

In November, 59% of St. Louis County voters supported Amendment 3. It passed statewide with 53% of the vote.

At a planning commission hearing in December on the proposed ordinance revisions, there were seven people present in favor of the plan and none against, according to county records.