840.01 FINDINGS.
   The following are the findings of the Council of the City of Johnstown:
   (a)   Sexually oriented businesses are frequently used for unlawful sexual activities, including prostitution and sexual liaisons of a casual nature.
   (b)   The concern over sexually transmitted diseases is a legitimate health concern of the City which demands reasonable regulation of sexually oriented businesses in order to protect the health and well-being of the citizens.
   (c)   Permitting and/or licensing is a legitimate and reasonable means of accountability to ensure that operators of sexually oriented businesses 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.
   (d)   There is convincing documented evidence that sexually oriented businesses, because of their very nature, have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, causing increased crime and the downgrading of property values.
   (e)   It is recognized that sexually oriented businesses, due to their nature, have serious objectionable operational characteristics, particularly when they are located in close proximity to each other, thereby contributing to neighborhood blight and downgrading the quality of life in the adjacent area.
   (f)   The City desires to minimize and control these adverse effects and thereby 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 neighborhood blight.
   (g)   It is not the intent of this chapter to suppress any speech activities protected by the First Amendment but to enact a content-neutral ordinance which addresses the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses.
   (h)   It is not the intent of the Council to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.
(Ord. 4818. Passed 1-27-99.)