The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday settled the remaining controversial issue and voted Tuesday to adopt a medical marijuana ordinance requiring dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from places where children congregate, such as schools, parks and libraries.

The council will have to vote again in a week because the 11-3 tally fell short of the 12-0 result that an ordinance needs to pass on the first reading, but members were relieved to end the excruciatingly meandering debate over the city’s fast-spreading pot outlets.

Hundreds of dispensaries have opened despite the city’s 2007 moratorium, angering neighborhoods that have seen store after store pop up on main commercial boulevards. The ordinance caps the number of dispensaries at 70, but allows exceptions for those that registered under the moratorium and are still in business.

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