(a) As used in this chapter:
(1) “Adult bookstore,” “adult cabaret,” “adult motion picture theater,” “adult video store,” “characterized by,” “nude,” “nudity,” “state of nudity,” “semi-nude,” “state of semi-nudity,” “sexual device,” “sexual device shop,” “sexual encounter center,” “specified anatomical areas,” and “specified sexual activity” have the same meanings as in Ohio R.C. 2907.40; and
(2) “Adult arcade,” “adult entertainment,” “adult entertainment establishment,” “adult novelty store,” “adult theater,” “distinguished or characterized by their emphasis upon,” “nude or semi-nude model studio,” “regularly features,” “regularly shown,” and “sexual encounter establishment” have the same meanings as in Ohio 2907.39.
(b) “Employee” means any individual on a full-time, part-time, or contract basis, regardless of whether the individual is denominated an employee, independent contractor, agent, or otherwise, but does not include an individual exclusively on the premises for repair or maintenance of the premises or for the delivery of goods to the premises.
(c) “Escort” means 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.
(d) “Escort agency” means a person or business association who furnishes, offers to furnish, ,or advertises to furnish escorts as one of its primary business purposes for a fee, tip or other consideration.
(e) “Immediate family” means a person's spouse residing in the person's household, parents, siblings of the whole or of the half blood, and children, including adopted children.
(f) “License” means a license to act or operate a sexually oriented business, issued pursuant to this chapter.
(g) “Licensee” means a person in whose name a license to operate has been issued, as well as the individual(s) designated on the license application as principally responsible for the operation of the sexually oriented business. With respect to an Employee license issued under this chapter, licensee means an employee, as defined above, in whose name a license has been issued authorizing employment at a sexually oriented business.
(h) “Operate” means to control or hold primary responsibility for the operation of a sexually oriented business, either as a business entity, as an individual, or as part of a group of individuals with shared responsibility. “Operate” or “Cause to be Operated” shall mean to cause to function or to put or keep in operation.
(i) “Operator” means any individual on the premises of a sexually oriented business who causes the business to function or who puts or keeps in operation the business or who is authorized to manage the business or exercise overall operational control of the business premises. A person may be found to be operating or causing to be operated a sexually oriented business whether or not that person is an owner, part owner, or licensee of the business.
(j) “Patron” means any individual on the premises of a sexually oriented business, except for any of the following:
(1) An operator or an employee of the sexually oriented business;
(2) An individual who is on the premises exclusively for repair or maintenance of the premises or for the delivery of goods to the premises;
(3) A public employee or a volunteer firefighter/emergency medical services worker acting within the scope of the public employee’s or volunteer’s duties as a public employee or volunteer’s duties as a public employee or volunteer.
(k) “Person” means an individual, proprietorship, partnership, firm, association, joint stock company, corporation or combination of individuals of whatever form or character.
(l) “Premises” means the real property on which the sexually oriented business is located and all appurtenances to the real property, including, but not limited, to the sexually oriented business, the grounds, private walkways, and parking lots or parking garages adjacent to the real property under the ownership, control, or supervision of the owner or operator of the sexually oriented business.
(m) “Sexually oriented business” means an adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult cabaret, adult entertainment establishment, adult motion picture theater, adult novelty store, adult theater, adult video store, sexual device shop, sexual encounter center, and sexual encounter establishment as defined by this Ordinance, but does not include a business solely by reason of its showing, selling, or renting materials that may depict sex.
(n) “Specified criminal activity” means any of the following offenses:
(1) Prostitution or promoting prostitution; soliciting; loitering to engage in solicitation; sexual performance by a child; public lewdness; indecent exposure; indecency with a child; sexual assault; molestation of a child; or any similar offenses to those described above under the criminal or penal code of any local jurisdiction, state, or country;
(2) for which:
A. less than two (2) years have elapsed since the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement imposed for the conviction, whichever is the later date, if the conviction is of a misdemeanor offense; or
B. less than five (5) years have elapsed since the date of conviction or the date of release from confinement for the conviction, whichever is the later date, if the conviction is of a felony offense.
(3) The fact that a conviction is being appealed shall not prevent such conviction from constituting a specified criminal activity as defined in this section.
(o) “Substantial enlargement” of a sexually oriented business means the increase in floor areas occupied by the business by more than twenty-five percent (25%), as the floor areas exist on the date a license is granted.
(p) “Transfer of ownership or control” of a sexually oriented business shall mean any of the following:
(1) The sale, lease, or sublease of the business;
(2) The transfer of securities which constitute a controlling interest in the business whether by sale, exchange, or similar means; or
(3) 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. 44-15. Passed 7-13-15.)