(a) In enacting this chapter, pursuant to Section 715.55 of the Ohio Revised Code, the City of Ontario Council, hereinafter Council, makes the following statement of intent and findings:
(1) Adult entertainment establishments require special supervision from the public safety agencies of the City of Ontario in order to protect and preserve the health, safety, morals, and welfare of the patrons and employees of the businesses as well as the citizens of the City of Ontario.
(2) Council finds that adult entertainment establishments are frequently used for unlawful sexual activities, including prostitution and sexual liaisons of a casual nature.
(3) The concern over sexually transmitted diseases is a legitimate health concern of Council that demands reasonable regulation of adult entertainment establishments by Council in the specified manner, and expanded authority for reasonable regulation of adult entertainment establishments by local governments, in order to protect the health and well-being of the citizens.
(4) Minimal regulations enacted by Council are a legitimate and reasonable means of accountability to ensure that operators of adult entertainment establishments 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.
(5) There is convincing documented evidence that adult entertainment establishments, because of their very nature, have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, cause increased crime, particularly in the overnight hours, and downgrade property values.
(6) Council desires to minimize and control these adverse effects by regulating adult entertainment establishments in the specified manner. And by minimizing and controlling these adverse effects, Council seeks to 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 urban blight.
(7) Council has determined that current local zoning and other locational criteria do not adequately protect the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of the City of Ontario and that expanded regulation of adult entertainment establishments is necessary.
(8) It is not the intent of Council in enacting this act to suppress or authorize the suppression of any speech activities protected by the First Amendment, but to enact content-neutral statutes that address the secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments.
(9) It is not the intent of Council to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material, and Council recognizes that state and federal law prohibits the distribution of obscene materials and expects and encourages state law enforcement officials to enforce state obscenity statutes against any such illegal activities in this State.
(b) It is the intent of Council in enacting this chapter to regulate in the specified manner adult entertainment establishments in order to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Ontario and establish reasonable regulations to prevent the deleterious secondary effects of adult entertainment establishments within the City of Ontario. 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 of Council in enacting this chapter to restrict or deny, or authorize the restriction or denial of, access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny, or authorize the denial of, access by the distributors and exhibitors of adult entertainment and adult materials to their intended market. Neither is it the intent nor effect of Council in enacting this chapter to condone or legitimize the distribution or exhibition of obscene material.
(c) Based on evidence concerning the adverse secondary effects of adult uses on communities presented in hearings and in reports made available to the legislature and subsequently adopted by the Ohio General Assembly as findings under Section 3 of House Bill 23 (and on findings incorporated in the cases of Township of Littleton, Colorado v. Z.J. Gifts D-4, L.L.C. (2004), 541 U.S. 774; Township of Erie v. Pap's A.M. (2000), 529 U.S. 277; Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991), 501 U.S. 560; Township of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986), 475 U.S. 41; Young v. American Mini Theatres (1976), 426 U.S. 50; California v. LaRue (1972), 409 U.S. 109; DLS, Inc. v. Township of Chattanooga (6th Cir. 1997), 107 F.3d 403; East Brooks Books, Inc. v. Township of Memphis (6th Cir. 1995), 48 F.3d 220; Harris v. Fitchville Township Trustees (N.D. Ohio 2000), 99 F. Supp.2d 837; Bamon Corp. v. Township of Dayton (S.D. Ohio 1990), 730 F. Supp. 90, aff'd (6th Cir. 1991), 923 F.2d 470; Broadway Books v. Roberts (E.D. Tenn. 1986), 642 F. Supp. 486; Bright Lights, Inc. v. Township of Newport (E.D. Ky. 1993), 830 F. Supp. 378; Richland Bookmart v. Nichols (6th Cir. 1998), 137 F.3d 435; Deja Vu v. Metro Government (6th Cir. 1999), 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 535; Threesome Entertainment v. Strittmather (N.D. Ohio 1998), 4 F.Supp.2d 710; J.L. Spoons, Inc. v. Township of Brunswick (N.D. Ohio 1999), 49 F. Supp.2d 1032; Triplett Grille, Inc. v. Township of Akron (6th Cir. 1994), 40 F.3d 129; Nightclubs, Inc. v. Township of Paducah (6th Cir. 2000), 202 F.3d 884; O'Connor v. Township and County of Denver (10th Cir. 1990), 894 F.2d 1210; Deja Vu of Nashville, Inc., et al. v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (6th Cir. 2001), 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 26007; State of Ohio ex rel. Rothal v. Smith (Ohio C.P. 2002), Summit C.P. No. CV 01094594; Z.J. Gifts D-2, L.L.C. v. Township of Aurora (10th Cir. 1998), 136 F.3d 683; Connection Distrib. Co. v. Reno (6th Cir. 1998), 154 F.3d 281; Sundance Assocs. v. Reno (10th Cir. 1998), 139 F.3d 804; American Library Association v. Reno (D.C. Cir. 1994), 33 F.3d 78; American Target Advertising, Inc. v. Giani (10th Cir. 2000), 199 F.3d 1241; and other cases and on reports of secondary effects occurring in and around adult entertainment establishments in Phoenix, Arizona (1984); Minneapolis, Minnesota (1980); Houston, Texas (1983); Indianapolis, Indiana (1984); Amarillo, Texas (1977); Garden Grove, California (1991); Los Angeles, California (1977); Whittier, California (1978); Austin, Texas (1986); Seattle, Washington (1989); Oklahoma Township, Oklahoma (1986); Cleveland, Ohio (1977); Dallas, Texas (1997); St. Croix County, Wisconsin (1993); Bellevue, Washington (1998); Newport News, Virginia (1996); Tucson, Arizona (1990); St. Paul, Minnesota (1988); Oklahoma Township, Oklahoma (1986 and 1992); Beaumont, Texas (1982); New York, New York (1994); Ellicottville, New York (1998); Des Moines, Iowa (1984); Islip, New York (1980); Adams County, Colorado (1987); Manatee County, Florida (1987); New Hanover County, North Carolina (1989); Las Vegas, Nevada (1978); Cattaraugas County, New York (1998); Cleburne, Texas (1997); Dallas, Texas (1997); El Paso, Texas (1986); New York Times Square study (1994); Report to ACLJ on the Secondary Impacts of Sex Oriented Businesses (1996); findings from the Report of the Attorney General's Working Group On The Regulation Of Sexually Oriented Businesses (June 6, 1989, State of Minnesota); and on testimony to Congress in 136 Cong. Rec. S. 8987; 135 Cong. Rec. S. 14519; 135 Cong. Rec. S. 5636, 134 Cong. Rec. E. 3750; and also on findings from the paper entitled "Stripclubs According to Strippers: Exposing Workplace Sexual Violence," by Kelly Holsopple, Program Director, Freedom and Justice Center for Prostitution Resources, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and from "Sexually Oriented Businesses: An Insider's View," by David Sherman, presented to the Michigan House Committee on Ethics and Constitutional Law, Jan. 12, 2000; and from various other police reports, testimony, newspaper reports, and other documentary evidence), and subsequent findings in Sensations, Inc. v. City of Grand Rapids, Michigan Decency Action Council (6th Cir. 2008), 526 F.3d 291; 729, Inc. v. Kenton County Fiscal Court (6th Cir. 2008), 515 F.3d 485; and Andy's Rest. & Lounge, Inc. v. City of Gary (7th Cir. 2006), 466 F.3d 550, and Council's independent review of the same) Council finds:
(1) Sexually oriented businesses, as a category of commercial uses, are often associated with a wide variety of adverse secondary effects including, but not limited to, personal and property crimes, prostitution, potential spread of disease, lewdness, public indecency, illicit drug use and drug trafficking, negative impacts on surrounding properties, urban blight, litter, and sexual assault and exploitation.
(2) Illegal and unsanitary acts involving nudity, including lewd conduct, masturbation, oral and anal sex, occur at unregulated sexually oriented businesses, including those businesses which provide private or semi-private rooms, booths, or cubicles for viewing films, videos, or live performances.
(3) Each of the foregoing negative secondary effects constitutes a harm which the City of Ontario has a substantial government interest in preventing and/or abating. This substantial government interest in preventing secondary effects, which is the City of Ontario's rationale for this chapter, exists independent of any comparative analysis between sexually oriented and non-sexually oriented businesses. Additionally, Council's interest in regulating sexually oriented businesses extends to preventing future secondary effects of either current or future sexually oriented businesses that may locate in the City of Ontario. Council finds that the cases and documentation relied on in this chapter are reasonably believed to be relevant to said secondary effects.
(4) The enactment of this chapter will promote the general welfare, health, morals, and safety of the citizens of the City of Ontario.
(Ord. 10-15. Passed 4-1-10.)