A convicted Massachusetts sexual offender gets to stay in his Franklin apartment as city officials review what to do about a city ordinance that sought to bar registered sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, playgrounds and other places children gather.

“The (City) Council will want to take a look at what their options are, and I just don’t know what direction they will want to take,” Franklin City Manager Elizabeth A. Dragon said Wednesday.

“The council could go back and do this again and ... see if there is some additional evidence out there that would support adoption of the ordinance,” she added.

The council also could scuttle the portion of the ordinance that bars sexual offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools and other places, Dragon added, saying she does not know what course they will pursue. The matter is not on the agenda for discussion at the mayor and council’s February meeting.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry M. Smukler ruled unconstitutional the city’s 2007 ordinance barring registered sexual offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools because it violates petitioner William H. Thomas’ equal protection rights.

Thomas, 67, was convicted in Massachusetts about 27 years ago of sexually assaulting a minor. He was imprisoned about three years, then released and is required to register as a sexual offender for the rest of his life. There is no allegation Thomas ever failed to register, Smukler noted. In August 2010, Thomas and a friend moved to and rented an apartment in Franklin. Public records show he lives on Madison Street.

“The petitioner (Thomas) does not contest that child safety is an important governmental interest,” Smukler wrote in his six-page order dated Jan. 18.

“Rather, he asserts that the respondents have not presented evidence that would support a legislative finding that the general ban of sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school, day care, playground, athletic field, public beach or ski area would protect child safety,” Smukler added.

In fact, the record revealed one councilor who voted for the ban admitted not having seen a shred of evidence it would protect children, the judge noted.

While the court agreed the ordinance’s restriction on living within 2,500 feet of a school is unconstitutional, Thomas may not set foot on school property without prior authorization, the judge ruled.