SECTION:
3-18-1: Purpose And Intent
3-18-2: Definitions
3-18-3: Enforcement Of Chapter; Inspection
3-18-4: Classification
3-18-5: Location Of Sexually Oriented Businesses
3-18-6: Additional Regulations Concerning Public Nudity
3-18-7: Prohibition Against Children In A Sexually Oriented Business
3-18-8: License Required; Application
3-18-9: Issuance Of License
3-18-10: License Fee
3-18-11: Expiration Of License
3-18-12: Suspension Of License
3-18-13: Revocation Of License
3-18-14: Transfer Of License
3-18-15: Hours Of Operation
3-18-16: Signage Restriction
3-18-17: Exemptions
3-18-18: Injunction
3-18-19: Penalty
3-18-20: Appeals
A. Purpose: It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate sexually oriented businesses in order to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Alamo, Texas (hereinafter referred to as the "City"), and establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the City. The provisions of this chapter have neither the purpose nor the effect of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is neither the intent nor effect of this chapter to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market.
B. Findings: Based on evidence concerning the adverse secondary effects of adult uses on the community presented in hearings, reports, and on findings incorporated in the cases of City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986), Young v. American Mini Theatres, 426 U.S. 50 (1976), FW/PBS, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215 (1990); Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U.S. 560 (1991), City of Erie v. Pap's A.M., 12 S. Ct. 1382 (2000), and on studies in other communities, the City of Alamo Board of Commissioners finds:
1. Sexually oriented businesses lend themselves to ancillary unlawful and unhealthy activities that are presently uncontrolled by the operators of the establishments. Further, there is presently no mechanism to make the owners of these establishments responsible for the activities that occur on their premises.
2. Certain employees of sexually oriented businesses, defined in this chapter as adult theaters and adult cabarets, engage in higher incidence of certain types of illicit sexual behavior than employees of other establishments.
3. Sexual acts occur at sexually oriented businesses, especially those which provide private or semi-private booths or cubicles for viewing films, videos, or live sex shows.
4. Offering and providing such space encourages such activities, which creates unhealthy conditions.
5. Persons frequent certain adult theaters, adult arcades, and other sexually oriented businesses for the purpose of engaging in sex within the premises of such sexually oriented businesses.
6. At least fifty (50) communicable diseases may be spread by activities occurring in sexually oriented businesses, including, but not limited to, syphilis, gonorrhea, human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV-AIDS), genital herpes, hepatitis B, Non A, Non B amebiasis, salmonella infections and shigella infections.
7. Since 1981 and to the present, there has been an increasing cumulative number of reported cases of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States.
8. The Surgeon General of the United States has advised the American public that AIDS and HIV infection may be transmitted through sexual contact, intravenous drug abuse, exposure to infected blood and blood components, and from an infected mother to her newborn.
9. According to the best scientific evidence, AIDS and HIV infection, as well as syphilis and gonorrhea, are principally transmitted by sexual acts.
10. Sanitary conditions in some sexually oriented businesses are unhealthy, in part, because the activities conducted there are unhealthy, and, in part, because of the unregulated nature of the activities and the failure of the owners and the operators of the facilities to self-regulate those activities and maintain those facilities.
11. The findings noted in subsections B1 through B10 of this section raise substantial governmental concerns.
C. Regulations Necessary: Sexually oriented businesses have operational characteristics which should be reasonably regulated in order to protect those substantial governmental concerns.
D. Intent: It is the intent of the City Commission that the locational regulations of section 3-18-5 of this chapter are promulgated pursuant to chapter 243 of the Texas Local Government Code. (Ord. 06-05-19, 5-21-2019)
For the purposes of this chapter the following words and phrases, except where the context clearly indicates otherwise, shall be defined as follows:
ADULT ARCADE: Any place to which the public is permitted or invited, wherein coin-operated or slug-operated or electronically, electrically, or mechanically controlled still or motion picture machines, projectors, or other image-producing devices are regularly maintained to show images to five (5) or fewer persons per machine at any one time, and where the images so displayed are distinguished or characterized by depicting or describing of "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".
ADULT BOOKSTORE, ADULT NOVELTY STORE, OR ADULT VIDEO STORE: A commercial establishment which has as a significant or substantial stock-in-trade, or derives a significant or substantial portion of its revenues or devotes a significant or substantial portion of its interior business or advertising, or maintains a substantial section of its sales or display space for the sale or rental, for any form of consideration, of any one or more of the following:
A. Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter, or photographs, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, compact discs, slides, or other visual representations, which are characterized by their emphasis upon the exhibition or display of "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas";
B. Instruments, devices, or paraphernalia which are designed for use or marketed primarily for stimulation of human genital organs or for sadomasochistic use or abuse of the user or others.
ADULT CABARET: A nightclub, bar, restaurant, or similar commercial establishment which regularly features:
A. Persons who appear in a state of nudity or semi-nudity, including topless dancers, nude dancers or strippers, male or female; or
B. Live performances which are characterized by the exposure of "specified anatomical areas" or by "specified sexual activities"; or
C. Films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or other photographic reproductions which are characterized by the exhibition or display of "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".
ADULT MOTEL: A hotel, motel, or similar commercial establishment that:
A. Offers accommodations to the public for any form of consideration; provides patrons with closed-circuit television transmissions, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions that are characterized by the depiction or description of "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas"; and has a sign visible from the public right-of-way which advertises the availability of this type of photographic reproductions; or
B. Offers a sleeping room for rent for a period of time that is less than ten (10) hours; or
C. Allows a tenant or occupant of a sleeping room to sub-rent the room for a period of time that is less than ten (10) hours.
ADULT MOTION PICTURE THEATER: A commercial establishment where, for any form of consideration, films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides, or similar photographic reproductions are regularly shown which are characterized by the depiction or description of "specified sexual activities" or "specified anatomical areas".
ADULT THEATER: A theater, concert hall, auditorium, or similar commercial establishment which regularly features persons who appear nude or semi-nude, or live performances which are characterized by the exposure of "specified anatomical areas" or by "specified sexual activities".
CHILD CARE FACILITY: A building used as a day nursery, children's boarding home, child placement agency, religious or charitable encampment for children or any other place for the care or custody of children under sixteen (16) years of age.
DISTINGUISHED OR CHARACTERIZED BY AN EMPHASIS UPON: Means the dominant or principal theme of the object referenced. For instance, when the phrase refers to films "which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis upon the exhibition or display of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas", the films so described are those whose dominant or principal character and theme are the exhibition or display of "specified anatomical areas" or "specified sexual activities".
EMPLOYEE, EMPLOY, AND EMPLOYMENT: Describe and pertain to any person who performs any service on the premises of a sexually oriented business on a full-time, part-time, or contract basis, regardless of whether the person is denominated as an employee, independent contractor, agent, or by another status. Employee does not include a person exclusively on the premises for repair or maintenance of the premises, or for the delivery of goods to the premises.
ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: The City Code Enforcement Officer or any employee under the Code Enforcement Officer or any police officer of the City or such person as may be designated by the City Commission.
ESCORT: A person who, for consideration, agrees or offers to act as a companion, guide, or date for another person, or who agrees or offers to privately model lingerie or to privately perform a striptease for another person.
ESCORT AGENCY: A person who, or business association that, furnishes, offers to furnish, or advertises to furnish escorts as one its business purposes, for a fee, tip, or other consideration.
ESTABLISH OR ESTABLISHMENT: Means and includes any of the following:
A. The opening or commencement of any sexually oriented business as a new business;
B. The conversion of an existing business, whether or not a sexually oriented business, to any sexually oriented business;
C. The addition of any sexually oriented business to any other existing sexually oriented business; or
D. The relocation of any sexually oriented business.
LICENSEE: A person in whose name a license to operate a sexually oriented business has been issued, as well as the individual listed as an applicant on the application for a license.
NUDE, NUDITY, OR A STATE OF NUDITY: The showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area, vulva, anus, or anal cleft with less than a fully opaque covering, the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple, or the showing of the covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
OPERATE OR CAUSE TO BE OPERATED: To cause to function or to put or keep in a state of doing business. Operator means any person on the premises of a sexually oriented business who is authorized to exercise operational control of the business, or who causes to function or who puts or keeps in operation, the business. A person may be found to be operating or causing to be operated a sexually oriented business regardless of whether that person is an owner, part owner, or licensee of the business.
PERSON: An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity.
REGULARLY FEATURED OR REGULARLY SHOWN: A consistent or substantial course of conduct, such that the films or performances exhibited constitute a substantial portion of the films or performances offered as a part of the ongoing business of the sexually oriented business.
RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT: A Single Family, Duplex, Townhouse, Multiple Family, Mobile Home Park, Mobile Home District or area so designated by such uses.
RESIDENTIAL USE: A property used for single family, duplex, townhouse, multiple family, mobile home park, mobile home subdivision, or campground purposes.
SEMI-NUDE MODEL STUDIO: A commercial establishment which regularly features a person (or persons) who appears semi-nude and is provided to be observed, sketched, drawn, painted, sculptured, or photographed by other persons who pay money or form of consideration, but shall not include a proprietary school licensed by the State of Texas or a college, junior college or university supported entirely or in part by public taxation; a private college or university which maintains and operates educational programs in which credits are transferable to a college, junior college, or university supported entirely or partly by taxation.
SEMI-NUDE OR SEMI-NUDE CONDITION: The showing of the female breast below a horizontal line across the top of the areola at its highest point. This definition shall include the entire lower portion of the human female breast, but shall not include any portion of the cleavage of the human female breast, exhibited by a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel, provided the areola is not exposed in whole or in part. The showing of the male or female buttocks, including with the use of a thong bikini, lingerie, or similar revealing attire.
SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESS: An adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult novelty store, adult video store, adult cabaret, adult motion picture or movie theater, adult theater, a nude or semi- nude model studio, or sexual encounter center, a sex or love parlor, adult motel, or other commercial enterprise the primary business of which is the offering of a service or the selling, renting, or exhibiting of devices or any other items intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer.
SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS: A. The human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered; or
B. Less than completely opaquely covered human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or a female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola.
SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES: Any of the following:
A. The fondling of another person's genitals, pubic region, anus, or female breasts;
B. Sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including intercourse, oral copulation, masturbation, or sodomy; or
C. Excretory functions as part of, or in connection with, any of the activities set forth in subsections A through B of this definition.
SUBSTANTIAL ENLARGEMENT: The increase in floor areas occupied by a sexually oriented business by more than twenty five percent (25%), as the floor areas exist on the date this chapter takes effect.
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OR CONTROL OF A SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESS: Means and includes any of the following:
A. The sale, lease, or sublease of the business;
B. The transfer of securities which constitute a controlling interest in the business, whether by sale, exchange, or similar means; or
C. The establishment of a trust, gift, or other similar legal device which transfers the ownership or control of the business, except for transfer by bequest or other operation of law upon the death of the person possessing the ownership or control. (Ord. 06-05-19, 5-21-2019)
A. The Community Planning and Development Department, Police Department, Fire Department, and County Health Department shall enforce the sections of this chapter, and shall have the right to enter any premises for inspection purposes during reasonable hours, to ensure the enforcement of this chapter.
B. An applicant or licensee shall permit representatives of the Police Department and the City, including, but not limited to, the Department of Planning, to inspect the premises of a sexually oriented business for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the law, at any time it is occupied or open for business.
C. A person who operates a sexually oriented business or his agent or employee commits an offense if he refuses to permit a lawful inspection of the premises by a representative of the Police Department or the City at any time it is occupied or open for business. (Ord. 06-05-19, 5-21-2019)
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