A. The Minnesota state attorney general prepared a report entitled "Report Of The Attorney General's Working Group On Regulation Of Sexually Oriented Businesses", dated June 6, 1989. The report considered evidence from studies conducted in Minneapolis and St. Paul and in other cities throughout the country relating to sexually oriented businesses, also called adult establishments.
B. The attorney general's report, based upon the above referenced studies and the testimony presented to it, concluded "that sexually oriented businesses are associated with high crime rates and depression of property values". In addition, the attorney general's working group ". . . heard testimony that the character of a neighborhood can dramatically change when there is a concentration of sexually oriented businesses adjacent to residential property". The report concluded that:
1. Adult uses have an impact on the neighborhoods surrounding them which is distinct from the impact caused by other commercial uses;
2. Residential neighborhoods located within close proximity to adult theaters, bookstores and other adult uses experience increased crime rates (sex related crimes in particular), lowered property values, increased transience, and decreased stability of ownership;
3. The adverse impacts which adult uses have on surrounding areas diminish as the distance from the adult use increases;
4. Studies of other cities have shown that among the crimes which tend to increase either within or in the near vicinity of adult uses are rapes, prostitution, child molestation, indecent exposure and other lewd and lascivious behavior;
5. The city of Phoenix, Arizona, study confirmed that the sex crime rate was on the average five hundred percent (500%) higher in areas with sexually oriented businesses;
6. Many members of the public perceive areas within which adult uses are located as less safe than other areas which do not have such uses;
7. Studies of other cities have shown that the values of both commercial and residential properties either are diminished or fail to appreciate at the rate of other comparable properties when located in proximity to adult uses;
8. The Indianapolis, Indiana, study established that professional real estate appraisers believe that an adult bookstore would have a negative effect on the value of both residential and commercial properties within a one to three (3) block area of the store;
9. The adverse impacts of adult uses are exacerbated when the uses are located near each other; and
10. The presence of liquor establishments in the immediate vicinity of adult uses also compounds the adverse impacts on the neighborhood.
C. The Moorhead city council finds that the characteristics of Moorhead are similar to those of the cities cited by the report when considering the effects of adult uses.
D. The Moorhead city council finds, based upon the report and the studies cited therein, that adult uses will have secondary effects upon certain preexisting land uses within the city.
E. The Moorhead city council directed that a study be undertaken of the existing zoning ordinance and other city regulations to address adult uses. The intent of the study was to determine how the city might reasonably amend the zoning ordinance to address the concerns raised by the studies cited and to offer reasonable alternative avenues of expression for the free speech activities guaranteed by recent supreme court rulings for adult uses.
F. The Moorhead city council finds, based on the above cited zoning study, that adult uses could reasonably be allowed in the light industrial district and heavy industrial district if separated from certain sensitive land uses, if those same sensitive land uses are not allowed in the industrial districts, and if potential adult uses are separated from one another. The city council also finds that there are a reasonable number of distinct locations within the city's industrial districts where adult uses might locate and meet reasonable spacing standards from sensitive land uses and from one another. (Ord. 2006-36, 1-2-2007)