The City Council makes the following findings regarding the effect sexually-oriented businesses have on the character of the city’s neighborhoods. In making these findings, the City Council accepts the recommendations and conclusions of the Report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on the Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses, dated June 6, 1989. This Chapter 151 shall have no force and effect until the City Council accepts these recommendations by resolution of a majority of its members.
(A) Sexually oriented businesses have an impact on the neighborhoods surrounding them which is distinct from the impact caused by other uses.
(B) Residential and commercial neighborhoods located within close proximity to sexually oriented businesses experience the following negative impacts:
(1) Increased crime rates, particularly in sex-related crimes such as rapes, prostitution, indecent exposure and other lewd and lascivious behavior;
(2) Property values which are either diminished or fail to appreciate at the rate of other comparable properties not located in proximity to sexually oriented businesses;
(3) Increased transiency and decreased stability of ownership;
(4) Deteriorated neighborhood appearance from litter and graffiti;
(5) Sex-related harassment of residents and customers by motorists and pedestrians;
(6) A perception that the area is unsafe; and
(7) Difficulty in attracting and retaining customers, employees and desirable tenants.
(C) The adverse impacts which sexually oriented businesses have on surrounding areas diminish as the distance from the sexually oriented business increases.
(D) The adverse impacts of sexually oriented businesses are exacerbated when the uses are located near each other.
(E) The presence of liquor establishments in the immediate vicinity of sexually oriented businesses also compounds the adverse impacts on the neighborhood.
(F) Sexually oriented businesses can exert a dehumanizing influence on persons attending places of worship, children attending day care centers or schools, and people using public parks and libraries.
(G) Sexually oriented businesses can significantly contribute to the deterioration of residential neighborhoods and can impair the character and quality of the residential housing in the area where they are located, thereby exacerbating the shortage of affordable and habitable housing for city residents.
(H) (1) The concentration of sexually oriented businesses in 1 area can have a substantially detrimental effect on that area and on the overall quality of urban life.
(2) A cycle of decay can result from the influx and concentration of sexually oriented businesses. The presence of like businesses is perceived by others as an indication that the area is deteriorating and the result can be devastating: other businesses move out of the vicinity and residents flee from the area.
(3) The resulting decline in real estate values erodes the city’s tax base and contributes to overall urban blight.
(I) Land-use regulations are appropriate to minimize the detrimental effects that sexually oriented businesses have on adjacent land uses.