(A) In enacting this chapter, pursuant to R.C. § 715.55, the Village Council, hereinafter “Council,” makes the following statement of intent and findings.
(1) Adult entertainment establishments require special supervision from the public safety agencies of the village in order to protect and preserve the health, safety, morals, and welfare of the patrons and employees of the businesses as well as the citizens of the village.
(2) Council finds that adult entertainment establishments are frequently used for unlawful sexual activities, including prostitution and sexual liaisons of a casual nature.
(3) The concern over sexually transmitted diseases is a legitimate health concern of Council that demands reasonable regulation of adult entertainment establishments by Council in the specified manner, and expanded authority for reasonable regulation of adult entertainment establishments by local governments, in order to protect the health and wellbeing of the citizens.
(4) Minimal regulations enacted by Council are a legitimate and reasonable means of accountability to ensure that operators of adult entertainment establishments comply with reasonable regulations and to ensure that operators do not knowingly allow their establishments to be used as places of illegal sexual activity or solicitation.
(5) There is convincing documented evidence that adult entertainment establishments, because of their very nature, have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, cause increased crime, particularly in the overnight hours, and downgrade property values.
(6) Council desires to minimize and control these adverse effects by regulating adult entertainment establishments in the specified manner. By minimizing and controlling these adverse effects, Council seeks to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizenry; protect the citizens from increased crime; preserve the quality of life; preserve the property values and character of surrounding neighborhoods; and deter the spread of urban blight.
(7) Council has determined that current local zoning and other locational criteria do not adequately protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of the village and that expanded regulation of adult entertainment establishments is necessary.
(8) It is not the intent of Council in enacting this chapter to suppress or authorize the suppression of any speech activities protected by the First Amendment, but to enact content-neutral statutes that address the secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments.
(9) It is not the intent of Council to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material, and Council recognizes that state and federal law prohibits the distribution of obscene materials and expects and encourages state law enforcement officials to enforce state obscenity statutes against any such illegal activities in this state.
(B) It is the intent of Council in enacting this chapter to regulate in the specified manner adult entertainment establishments in order to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the village and establish reasonable regulations to prevent the deleterious secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments within the village. 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 sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is not the intent of Council in enacting this chapter to restrict or deny, or authorize the restriction or denial of, access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny, or authorize the denial of, access by the distributors and exhibitors of adult entertainment and adult materials to their intended market. Neither is it the intent nor effect of Council in enacting this chapter to condone or legitimize the distribution or exhibition of obscene material.
(Ord. 60-2010, passed 3-15-2010; Ord. 61-2010, passed 3-15-2010)