(A) Purpose. It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate sexually oriented businesses in order to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the county, and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations relating to sexually oriented businesses. 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. Neither is it the intent nor effect of this chapter to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.
(B) Findings. Based on evidence concerning the adverse secondary effects of adult uses on the community presented in reports made available to the Fiscal Court, and on findings incorporated in the cases of City of Renton v. Play Time Theaters, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986), Young vs. American Mini Theaters, 426 U.S. 50 (1976), and Barnes v. Glen Theater, Inc., 501 U.S. 560 (1991), and on studies in other communities, including, but not limited to, Phoenix, Arizona; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Amarillo, Texas; Garden Grove, California; Los Angeles, California; Whittier, California; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Cleveland, Ohio; and Beaumont, Texas; and also on findings from the report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on the regulation of sexually oriented businesses, (June 6, 1989, State of Minnesota), the Fiscal Court finds:
(1) Sexually oriented businesses lend themselves to ancillary unlawful and unhealthy activities that are presently 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 business defined in this chapter as adult theaters and cabarets engage in higher incidents of certain types of illicit sexual behavior than employees of other establishments;
(3) Sexual acts, including masturbation, and oral and anal sex, occur at sexually oriented businesses, especially those which provide private or semi-private booths or cubicals for viewing films, videos or live sex shows;
(4) Offering and providing such space encourages such activities which creates unhealthy conditions;
(5) Persons frequent certain adult theaters, adult arcades and other sexually oriented businesses 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-13 amebiasis, salmonella infections and shigella infections;
(7) Since 1981 and to the present, there has been an increasing cumulative number of reported cases of AIDS caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States. Through December 31, 1997, there have been 619,690 reported cases of AIDS in the United States;
(8) As of December 31, 1997, there have been 2,583 reported cases of AIDS in the commonwealth;
(9) The Surgeon General of the United States in his report of October 22, 1986, has 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;
(10) According to the best scientific evidence, AIDS and HIV infection, as well as syphilis and gonorrhea, are principally transmitted by sexual acts;
(11) 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;
(12) Numerous studies and reports have determined that semen is found in the areas of sexually oriented businesses where persons view adult oriented films;
(13) The findings noted in divisions (B)(1) through (B)(12) above raise substantial governmental concerns;
(14) Sexually oriented businesses have operational characteristics which should be reasonably regulated in order to protect those substantial governmental concerns;
(15) Removal of doors on adult booths and requiring sufficient lighting on premises with adult booths advances a substantial governmental interest in curbing the illegal and unsanitary sexual activity occurring in adult theaters; and
(16) The general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of the county will be promoted by the enactment of this chapter.
(Ord. 2000-4, passed 4-24-2000)