(A) Purpose.
(1) It is the purpose of this subchapter to regulate adult oriented establishments to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens of the city and to establish reasonable and uniform regulation to:
(a) Prevent additional criminal activity within the city;
(b) Prevent deterioration of neighborhoods and its consequent adverse effect on real estate values of properties within the neighborhood;
(c) To locate adult oriented establishments away from residential areas, schools, churches, parks and playgrounds; and
(d) Prevent concentration of adult oriented establishments within certain areas of the city.
(2) The provisions of this subchapter have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative materials, including adult oriented materials. Similarly, it is not the intent nor effect of this subchapter to restrict or deny access by adults to adult oriented materials protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States or to deny access by distributors and exhibitors of adult oriented entertainment to their intended market.
(B) Findings. The City Council makes the following findings about the effect adult oriented establishments have on the character of the city’s neighborhoods.
(1) In making these findings, the City Council accepts the recommendations of staff who have reviewed the many reports, studies, judicial decisions and experiences of other cities around the state and country concerning the secondary effects on the areas in which the activities are located or take place, including: The Report of the Attorney General Working Group on Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses, dated June 6, 1989, prepared by then State Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey, III; the City of St. Cloud, MN; the City of St. Paul, MN; the City of Los Angeles, CA; the City of Austin, TX; and various other cities throughout the country that have studied the impact of adult oriented businesses. These studies have concluded that adult uses and sexually oriented businesses have adverse impacts on the surrounding neighborhoods.
(2) Based on these studies the City Council concludes:
(a) Adult uses and sexually oriented businesses can contribute to an increase in crime in the area where these businesses are located. This can be a burden to the city crime prevention programs and law enforcement services;
(b) Adult uses and sexually oriented businesses can significantly contribute to the deterioration of residential neighborhoods and can increase neighborhood blight. These businesses also can impair the character and quality of the residential housing in the area where these businesses are located. This situation could reduce the amount of desirable housing and cause residents to flee the neighborhood;
(c) The concentration of adult uses and sexually oriented businesses in one area can greatly affect the area where the businesses are concentrated. A cycle of decay can result from the influx and concentration of adult uses and sexually oriented businesses. Others may perceive the presence of the businesses as an indication that the area is deteriorating and results in other businesses and residents moving or fleeing from the area. Lower property values that can result from the concentration of these businesses, erode the city’s tax base and contribute to blight;
(d) Adult uses and sexually oriented businesses can have a dehumanizing and distractive influence on young people and students attending schools, using parks, playgrounds and other public recreational areas. They can interfere with or even destroy the spiritual experience of persons attending church, synagogue or other place of worship and can interfere with or even destroy the opportunity for solemn and respectful contemplation at cemeteries and similar facilities;
(e) It is necessary to provide for the special and express regulations of business establishments or commercial enterprises that operate as adult body painting studios, adult book stores, adult cabarets, adult car washes, adult companionship establishments, adult hotels or motels, adult massage parlors or health clubs, adult motion picture arcades or theaters, adult modeling studios, adult novelty businesses, adult saunas and similar adult oriented services operating under various names to protect the public health, safety and welfare, and to guard against inception and transmission of disease;
(f) Businesses such as the types described in division (B)(2)(e) above and all other similar establishments whose services include sessions offered to adults conducted in private by members of the same or opposite sex, and employing personnel with no specialized training, are susceptible to operations contravening, subverting or endangering the morals of the city by being the site of acts of prostitution, illicit sex and occasions of violent crimes, and thus requiring close inspection, permitting and regulations;
(g) Control and regulation of businesses of these types, in view of the abuses often perpetrated, require intensive efforts by the Police Department and other departments of the city. It is necessary for the city to provide services to all of the city without concentrating the public services in one area. The concentrated use of city services detracts from and reduces the level of services available to the rest of the city. Thus, these types of establishments can diminish the ability of the city to protect and promote the general health, welfare, morals and safety of the city;
(h) The limitation on the hours of operation and the regulation of exterior appearance, including signage, of adult oriented business activities is necessary to protect and secure neighboring uses, to control adverse noise and traffic impacts associated with those activities, and otherwise address, mitigate and, if possible, eliminate the adverse impacts and secondary effects of sexual oriented business activities on the areas in which the activities are located or taking place; and
(i) The City Council adopts the following land use and permitting regulations, recognizing that it has an interest in the present and future character of the city’s residential and commercial neighborhoods. These regulations are to lessen the detrimental and adverse effects adult uses and sexually oriented businesses have on adjacent land uses and to protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the city.
(Ord. 42, 2nd Ser., passed 9-3-2002)