HOUGHTON — Houghton is considering an ordinance to regulate the sale of recreational marijuana.

The Planning Commission was given two draft ordinances Tuesday: one regarding recreational marijuana, and revisions to the medical marijuana ordinance to align the two.

“Being there’s two different laws, it had to be written a little differently in a few places to be compliant with the recreational one,” City Manager Eric Waara said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

The retail ordinance, like the medical marijuana ordinance, would confine possible locations to the same area as Northern Speciality Health, the city’s only medical marijuana provisioning center. However, it would not carry over the clause from the medical marijuana ordinance barring the business from existing within 1,000 feet of a provisioning center, allowing another business to operate nearby.

The state legalized recreational marijuana last year. Earlier this year, the city council voted to opt out of allowing retail establishments, but said it would revisit the issue once the state had set up regulations for retail sales. The state announced a set of rules governing retail sales in July, and announced it would start taking applications for recreational marijuana businesses in November.

The ordinance would not change the city’s decision to opt out, Waara said. However, it would put restrictions in place for the city in case voters passed a referendum allowing sales.

“The way the recreational law is structured, if you don’t have an ordinance, and a referendum occurs to opt in and you don’t have an ordinance in place, all it is is state rules,” Waara said. “You have zero control.”

The ordinance would still only permit retail. Testing, growing, transport and processing organizations would still be barred in the city.