diff --git a/main.tf b/main.tf
index 03777782..59d4c221 100644
--- a/main.tf
+++ b/main.tf
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ resource "azurerm_kubernetes_cluster_node_pool" "this" {
   # if the region does not have zone create a single node pool with the zone as null
   # if node pools are not emplty check if the node has a zone if yes then create a node pool per zone otherwise create a single node pool
   # count = var.node_pools != null ? var.zones ? 3 : 1 : length(local.zones)
-  count = var.node_pools != null ? (var.zones != null ? length(var.node_pools) * 3 : length(var.node_pools)) : length(var.zones)
+  count = var.node_pools != null ? (var.zones != null ? length(var.node_pools) * 3 : length(var.node_pools)) : 0
 
   kubernetes_cluster_id = azurerm_kubernetes_cluster.this.id
   name                  = "workload${count.index + 1}"
diff --git a/variables.tf b/variables.tf
index 7b936d07..b0ab198f 100644
--- a/variables.tf
+++ b/variables.tf
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ variable "node_pools" {
     mode                = optional(string)
     os_disk_size_gb     = optional(number, null)
     tags                = optional(map(string), {})
-    zones               = optional(string)
+    zones               = optional(set(string))
   }))
   default = [{
     name               = "workload"