diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_executor.c b/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_executor.c
index 2ca21d2ea..c907fd9b4 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_executor.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/executor/multi_executor.c
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ int ExecutorLevel = 0;
 /* local function forward declarations */
 static Relation StubRelation(TupleDesc tupleDescriptor);
 static bool AlterTableConstraintCheck(QueryDesc *queryDesc);
-static bool IsLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(PlannedStmt *plan);
+static bool IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(PlannedStmt *plan);
 static List * FindCitusCustomScanStates(PlanState *planState);
 static bool CitusCustomScanStateWalker(PlanState *planState,
 									   List **citusCustomScanStates);
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ CitusExecutorRun(QueryDesc *queryDesc,
 
 		if (CitusHasBeenLoaded())
 		{
-			if (IsLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(queryDesc->plannedstmt) &&
+			if (IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(queryDesc->plannedstmt) &&
 				IsMultiStatementTransaction())
 			{
 				/*
@@ -742,13 +742,13 @@ AlterTableConstraintCheck(QueryDesc *queryDesc)
 
 
 /*
- * IsLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan returns true if the given plan joins local tables
+ * IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan returns true if the given plan joins local tables
  * with reference table shards.
  *
  * This should be consistent with IsLocalReferenceTableJoin() in distributed_planner.c.
  */
 static bool
-IsLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(PlannedStmt *plan)
+IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoinPlan(PlannedStmt *plan)
 {
 	bool hasReferenceTable = false;
 	bool hasLocalTable = false;
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/planner/distributed_planner.c b/src/backend/distributed/planner/distributed_planner.c
index 76276be36..37f6884d3 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/planner/distributed_planner.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/planner/distributed_planner.c
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ static void PopPlannerRestrictionContext(void);
 static void ResetPlannerRestrictionContext(
 	PlannerRestrictionContext *plannerRestrictionContext);
 static bool HasUnresolvedExternParamsWalker(Node *expression, ParamListInfo boundParams);
-static bool IsLocalReferenceTableJoin(Query *parse, List *rangeTableList);
+static bool IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoin(Query *parse, List *rangeTableList);
 static bool QueryIsNotSimpleSelect(Node *node);
 static bool UpdateReferenceTablesWithShard(Node *node, void *context);
 static PlannedStmt * PlanFastPathDistributedStmt(DistributedPlanningContext *planContext,
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ distributed_planner(Query *parse, int cursorOptions, ParamListInfo boundParams)
 	}
 	else if (CitusHasBeenLoaded())
 	{
-		if (IsLocalReferenceTableJoin(parse, rangeTableList))
+		if (IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoin(parse, rangeTableList))
 		{
 			/*
 			 * For joins between reference tables and local tables, we replace
@@ -2341,38 +2341,21 @@ HasUnresolvedExternParamsWalker(Node *expression, ParamListInfo boundParams)
 
 
 /*
- * IsLocalReferenceTableJoin returns if the given query is a join between
- * reference tables and local tables.
+ * IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoin returns true if the given query
+ * is a valid join query between reference tables and local tables
  */
 static bool
-IsLocalReferenceTableJoin(Query *parse, List *rangeTableList)
+IsValidLocalReferenceTableJoin(Query *parse, List *rangeTableList)
 {
 	bool hasReferenceTable = false;
 	bool hasLocalTable = false;
 	ListCell *rangeTableCell = false;
 
-	bool hasReferenceTableReplica = false;
-
 	/*
-	 * We only allow join between reference tables and local tables in the
-	 * coordinator.
+	 * Check if we are in the coordinator and coordinator can have reference
+	 * table placements
 	 */
-	if (!IsCoordinator())
-	{
-		return false;
-	}
-
-	/*
-	 * All groups that have pg_dist_node entries, also have reference
-	 * table replicas.
-	 */
-	PrimaryNodeForGroup(COORDINATOR_GROUP_ID, &hasReferenceTableReplica);
-
-	/*
-	 * If reference table doesn't have replicas on the coordinator, we don't
-	 * allow joins with local tables.
-	 */
-	if (!hasReferenceTableReplica)
+	if (!CanUseCoordinatorLocalTablesWithReferenceTables())
 	{
 		return false;
 	}