A. Purpose. It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate sexually oriented businesses and related activities to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the City, and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious location and concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the City. 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 materials.
B. Findings. Based on evidence concerning the adverse secondary effects of adult uses on the community presented in hearings and in reports made available to the City Council, and on findings incorporated in the cases of City of Erie v. Pap's A.M, 529 U.S. 277 (2000); Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U.S. 560 (1991); City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986); Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc., 478 U.S. 697, (1986); Iacobucci v. City of Newport, Ky., 479 U.S. 92 (1986); Young v. American Mini Theatres, 427 U.S. 50 (1976); California v. LaRue, 409 U.S. 109 (1972); United States v O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968); DLS Inc. v. City of Chattanooga, 107 F.3d 403 (6th Cir.1997); Kev, Inc. v. Kitsap County, 793 F. 2d 1053 (9th Cir. 1986); Hang On, Inc. v. City of Arlington, 65 F.3d 1248 (5th Cir.1995); South Florida Free Beaches, Inc. v. City of Miami, 734 F 2d 608 (11th Cir. 1984); and N.W. Enterprises v. City of Houston, 27 F.Supp. 2d 754 (S.D. Tex. 1998), as well as studies conducted in other cities 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 findings reported in the Final Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography (1986), the Report of the Attorney General's Working Group on the Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses (June 6, 1989, State of Minnesota), and statistics obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the City Council finds that:
(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 owners of these establishments responsible for the activities that occur on their premises.
(2) Crime statistics show that all types of crimes, especially sex-related crimes, occur with more frequency in neighborhoods where sexually oriented businesses are located. See, e.g., studies of the cities of Phoenix, Arizona; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Austin, Texas.
(3) Sexual acts, including masturbation, and oral and anal sex, occur at sexually oriented businesses, especially those which provide private or semiprivate booths or cubicles for viewing films, videos, or live sex shows.
(4) Offering and providing such booths and/or cubicles 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 B.
(7) 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.
(8) Numerous studies and reports have determined that bodily fluids, including semen and urine, are found in the areas of sexually oriented businesses where persons view adult-oriented films.
(9) Nude dancing in adult establishments encourages prostitution, increases sexual assaults, and attracts other criminal activity.
(10) Nude dancing in adult establishments increases the likelihood of drug-dealing and drug use.
(11) Alcohol consumption in adult establishments increases the likelihood of crime, illegal drug use, and illegal sexual activity, and encourages undesirable behavior that is not in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare.
(12) Sexually oriented businesses have operational characteristics which should be reasonably regulated in order to protect those substantial governmental concerns.
(13) A reasonable licensing procedure is an appropriate mechanism to place the burden of that reasonable regulation on the owners and operators of sexually oriented businesses. Further, such licensing procedure will place a heretofore nonexistent incentive on operators to see that the sexually oriented business is run in a manner consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of its patrons and employees, as well as the citizens of the City. It is appropriate to require reasonable assurances that the licensee is the actual operator of the sexually oriented business, fully in possession and control of the premises and activities occurring therein.
(14) Removal of doors on adult booths and requiring sufficient lighting on the premises with adult booths advances a substantial governmental interest in curbing the illegal and unsanitary sexual activity occurring in adult establishments.
(15) The disclosure of certain information by those persons ultimately responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the sexually oriented business, where such information is substantially related, to the significant governmental interest in the operation of such uses, will aid in preventing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and criminal activity.
(16) It is desirable, in the prevention of crime and the spread of communicable diseases, to obtain a limited amount of information regarding certain employees who may engage in the conduct this chapter is designed to prevent, or who are likely to be witnesses to such activity.
(17) The fact that an applicant for a sexually oriented business license has been convicted of a sex-related crime leads to the rational assumption that the applicant may engage in that conduct in contravention to this chapter.
(18) The barring of such individuals from operation or employment in sexually oriented businesses for a period of five years for a previous felony conviction serves as a deterrent to further criminal conduct, and prevents conduct which leads to the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.
(19) When more than one sexually oriented business use occupies the same location or business address, the secondary effects caused by such businesses are increased. Secondary effects are eliminated or controlled to a greater degree when only a single sexually oriented business use is allowed to occupy the same location.
(20) The general welfare, health, morals, and safety of the citizens of this City will be promoted by enactment of this chapter. The findings noted in Subsection B(1) through (18) raise substantial governmental concerns.