2.4.101: PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of these regulations is to provide for the regulation and licensing of sexually oriented businesses within the City in a manner which will protect the property values, neighborhoods and residents from the potential adverse secondary impacts of sexually oriented businesses while providing to those who desire to patronize sexually oriented businesses the opportunity to do so. It is not the intent of this article to suppress any speech activities protected by the first and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution or article II, section 10 Colorado Constitution, but to impose content-neutral regulations which address the adverse secondary impacts of sexually oriented businesses. Nothing in this article is intended to authorize or license anything otherwise prohibited by law.
Sexually oriented businesses are frequently used for unlawful sexual activities, including prostitution. The concern over sexually transmitted diseases is a legitimate health concern of the City which demands reasonable regulation of sexually oriented businesses to protect the health and well-being of the citizens, including the patrons of sexually oriented businesses. Licensing of sexually oriented businesses is a legitimate and reasonable means of ensuring that operators of sexually oriented businesses comply with reasonable regulations and that operators do not knowingly allow their businesses to be used as places of illegal sexual activity or solicitation. There is convincing documented evidence that sexually oriented businesses, due to their nature, have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and surrounding residential areas, causing increased crime and downgrading of property values. The purpose of this article is to control adverse impacts from sexually oriented businesses and thereby protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens, protect the citizens from increased crime, preserve the quality of life, preserve the property values and character of the surrounding neighborhoods and deter the spread of urban blight. (Ord. 92-159; Ord. 01-42)