(A) The Texas Legislature has found that the unrestricted operation of certain sexually oriented businesses may be detrimental to the public, health, safety and welfare by contributing to the decline of residential and business neighborhoods and the growth of criminal activity. Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code, § 243.001(a). The purpose of this chapter to regulate sexually oriented businesses is to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens of the city, to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the city, to deter sexually related criminal activity occurring in and around sexually oriented businesses and to protect the health of patrons and employees of the businesses from sexually transmitted diseases. 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 by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market.
(B) It is the intent of the City Council that the locational regulations of § 154.082 below are promulgated pursuant to Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code, Ch. 243 as they apply to a sex parlor, nude studio, modeling studio, love parlor, adult bookstore, adult movie theater, adult video arcade, adult movie arcade, adult video store, adult motel or other similar commercial enterprise the primary business of which is the offering of a service or the selling, renting or exhibiting of devices or any other items intended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer. It is the intent of the City Council that all other provisions of this chapter are promulgated pursuant to the Godley City Charter and Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code, Ch. 243 and Ch. 215, Subchapter B.
(C) It is the intent of the City Council to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the patrons of "adult oriented establishments," as well as the health, safety and welfare of the town’s citizens. Statistics and studies performed by a substantial number of cities and towns in the United States and research by the Sexually Oriented Businesses Task Force indicate the following:
(1) Large numbers of persons, primarily male, frequent such "adult oriented establishments," especially those which provide closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms for the private viewing of so-called "adult" motion pictures and/or video tapes and/or live entertainment;
(2) Such closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms have been used by patrons, clients or customers of such "adult oriented establishments" for the purpose of engaging in certain sexual acts;
(3) Male and female prostitutes have been known to frequent such establishments in order to provide sex for hire to the patrons, clients or customers of the establishments within the booths, cubicles and rooms;
(4) Doors, curtains, blinds and/or other closures installed in or on the entrances and/or exits are in use encourage patrons using the booths, cubicles, studios and rooms to engage in sexual acts therein with prostitutes and/or with other members of the same sex, thereby promoting and encouraging prostitution and the commission of sexual acts which cause blood, semen and urine to be deposited on the floor and/or walls of the booths, cubicles, studios and rooms, which deposits could prove detrimental to the health and safety of other persons who may come into contact with the deposits;
(5) 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 arnebiasis, salmonella infections and shigella infections;
(6) Since 1981 and to the present, there has been an increasing cumulative number of reported cases of AIDS caused by HIV in the United States;
(7) The U.S. Surgeon General in his October 22, 1986 report advised the American public that AIDS and HIV infection may be transmitted through sexual contact, intravenous drug abuse, exposure to infected blood and blood components, and from an infected mother to her newborn;
(8) According to the best scientific evidence, AIDS and HIV infection, as well as syphilis and gonorrhea, are principally transmitted by sexual acts;
(9) 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 operators of the facilities to self-regulate those activities and maintain those facilities;
(10) A reasonable licensing scheme is an appropriate mechanism to know the true identity of the owners, operators and employees, their criminal background (since someone convicted a sexually related crime leads to the rational assumption that the applicant may engage in that conduct in contravention of this subchapter or other laws), identifies potential witnesses or suspects and by preventing minors from working in the establishments;
(11) That there is an increasing commercial exploitation of human sexuality by owners and operators of commercial establishments where alcoholic beverages are served or offered for sale for consumption on the premises, or where alcoholic beverages are permitted to be consumed;
(12) That the exploitation takes place in the form of employing or permitting persons to perform or exhibit their nude or semi-nude bodies to other persons as an inducement to such other persons to purchase alcoholic beverages or to consume alcoholic beverages while on the premises;
(13) The exploitation is further often accompanied by serious and dangerous criminal activity, such as the possession or use of controlled substances, the proliferation of drug-related activity, prostitution, disorderly conduct, assaults and the like;
(14) That the direct result of the exploitation in the context of the location where it is permitted (i.e., where alcohol is served or consumed) threatens the preservation of property values of adjoining and adjacent properties and neighborhoods;
(15) That the direct result of the exploitation is the moral degradation and disturbances of the peace and good order of the community;
(16) The commercial exploitation of the nude and semi-nude acts are adverse to the public’s interest and the quality of life, tone of commerce and total community environment in the city;
(17) The hour restrictions on private clubs in Texas under the current Alcoholic Beverage Commission were originally adopted to "safeguard the welfare, safety and temperance of the people of Texas," and we hereby find that the hours when applied to sexually oriented businesses equally safeguard the welfare and safety of the citizens of the city;
(18) The important governmental interests of the prevention of crime and prevention of disease (such as the City of Chattanooga presented evidence of high crime and health risks which supported that city’s adoption of City Code Section 11-435(d) as outlined in DLS, Inc. v. City of Chattanooga, 107 F.3d 403 (6th Cir. 1997)) are furthered by the prohibition of touching between the sexually oriented business employees and customers and when a six-foot buffer zone is established;
(19) The reasonable regulation and supervision of the adult oriented establishments tends to discourage such sexual acts and prostitution, and thereby promotes the health, safety and welfare of the patrons, clients and customers of the establishments;
(20) The continued unregulated operation of adult oriented establishments including, without limitation, those specifically cited in this provision, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of the city;
(21) The above findings raise substantial governmental concerns;
(22) Such reasonable regulations are within the powers granted to the city by the Constitution and laws of the state in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare and have been enacted by this subchapter without any intention of limiting or restricting the contents of any communicative materials or of denying or restricting the rights of any adult to obtain, view, distribute, exhibit or sell any sexually oriented materials protected by the United States and/or State Constitution;
(23) The place restrictions hereinafter in accordance with powers granted to the city by the Constitution and laws of the state including Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code, Ch. 243; such regulations will provide needed protection to the community from the adverse effects of sexually oriented businesses without depriving the businesses of adequate opportunities to locate within the city for this subchapter satisfies City of Renton, Woodall and other case law for this subchapter translates into five and eight-tenths percent of the city being available to the businesses as reasonable alternative avenues of communication; and
(24) In order to reduce the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses, regulation of signage is necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public.
(Ord. 12-3-98, passed 12-3-1998)