diff --git a/src/_nebari/stages/kubernetes_services/template/modules/kubernetes/services/conda-store/config/conda_store_config.py b/src/_nebari/stages/kubernetes_services/template/modules/kubernetes/services/conda-store/config/conda_store_config.py
index b41f29d25..fe9751437 100644
--- a/src/_nebari/stages/kubernetes_services/template/modules/kubernetes/services/conda-store/config/conda_store_config.py
+++ b/src/_nebari/stages/kubernetes_services/template/modules/kubernetes/services/conda-store/config/conda_store_config.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 import requests
 from conda_store_server import api
-from conda_store_server._internal import orm, schema
+from conda_store_server._internal import schema
 from conda_store_server.server.auth import GenericOAuthAuthentication
 from conda_store_server.server.dependencies import get_conda_store
 from conda_store_server.storage import S3Storage
@@ -423,8 +423,7 @@ async def authenticate(self, request):
             for namespace in namespaces:
                 _namespace = api.get_namespace(db, name=namespace)
                 if _namespace is None:
-                    db.add(orm.Namespace(name=namespace))
-                    db.commit()
+                    api.create_namespace(db, name=namespace)
 
         return schema.AuthenticationToken(
             primary_namespace=username,