(A) Minnesota Statute § 412.221, Subd. 32, as it may be amended from time to time, states: “The council shall have power to provide for the government and good order of the city, the suppression of vice and immorality, the prevention of crime, the protection of public and private property, the benefit of residence, trade, and commerce, and the promotion of health, safety, order, convenience, and the general welfare by the ordinances not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States or of this state as it shall deem expedient;” and
(B) The State Attorney General has prepared a report entitled Report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses, dated 6-6-1989. The Report considered evidence from studies conducted in Minneapolis and St. Paul and in other cities throughout the country relating to sexually oriented businesses. The Attorney General’s Report, based upon the referenced studies and the testimony presented to it, has concluded “that sexually oriented businesses are associated with high crime rates and depression of property values.” In addition, the Attorney General’s Working Group “...heard testimony that the character of the neighborhood can dramatically change when there is a concentration of sexually oriented businesses adjacent to residential property;” and
(C) In City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc, 475 US 41 (1986), the United States Supreme Court found that a city may rely on the experiences of other cities to determine whether certain businesses have adverse secondary effects; and
(D) The City of Amboy has characteristics, including residential and public institutional uses, that are similar to the cities cited in the Report of the Attorney General’s Working Group and other studies.
(E) The City Council finds that, based upon the above-mentioned studies, adult entertainment uses should be regulated in order to protect the public health, safety, and welfare; to protect property values; to eliminate or reduce blight; to prevent deterioration of neighborhoods; to prevent the exodus of residents and businesses from city neighborhoods and to prevent the increase of crime and juvenile delinquency.
(F) The provisions of this chapter 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 chapter to restrict or deny access by adults to adult-oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny access by distributors and exhibitors of adult-oriented entertainment to their intended market.
(Ord. 117, passed 5-6-2002)