(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 borough, and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious location and concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the borough. 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 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 to sexually oriented businesses by patrons or by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market. Neither is it the intent nor effect of this chapter to condone or legitimize sexually oriented businesses or the distribution of obscene material.
(B) Findings. Based on the concern of adverse secondary effects of adult uses in the community. Borough Council is of the position that:
(1) Sexually oriented businesses lend themselves to ancillary unlawful and unhealthy activities that are 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 engage in higher incidence of certain types of illicit sexual behavior than employees of other sexually oriented business establishments;
(3) Sexual acts, including masturbation and oral and anal sex, occur at sexually oriented businesses, especially those which provide private or semiprivate booths or cubicles for viewing films, videos, live sex shows or massages;
(4) Offering and providing such space encourages such activities, which creates unhealthy conditions;
(5) Persons frequent sexually oriented businesses, for amongst other things, for the purpose of engaging in sex within the premises of such sexually oriented businesses;
(6) At least 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) According to the best scientific evidence, AIDS and HIV infection, as well as, syphilis and gonorrhea, are principally transmitted by sexual acts;
(8) 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 that activities and maintain those facilities; and
(9) Restricting doors on viewing booths and requiring sufficient lighting on the premises with adult booths advances a substantial governmental interest in curbing illegal and unsanitary sexual activity occurring in sexually oriented businesses.
(Prior Code, Ch. 13, § 511) (Ord. 1-98, passed 12-7-1998, § I)