The town meeting finds:
(A) Adult-oriented establishments located in the town require supervision from the town’s Public Safety and Zoning Enforcement agencies in order to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the patrons of such establishments, as well as the health, safety and welfare of the town’s citizens;
(B) Statistics and studies performed by a substantial number of cities and towns in the United States indicate that:
(1) Large numbers of persons, primarily male, frequent such adult-oriented establishments, especially those which provide closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms for the private viewing of so-called adult motion pictures and/or video tapes and/or live entertainment;
(2) Persons under the age of 18 may be attracted to adult-oriented establishments and seek to enter or loiter about them without the knowledge or permission of their parents or guardians;
(3) Closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms within adult-oriented establishments have been used by patrons, clients or customers of such adult-oriented establishments for the purpose of engaging in certain sexual acts;
(4) Male and female prostitutes have been known to frequent such establishments in order to provide sex for hire to the patrons, clients or customers of such establishments within such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms;
(5) Doors, curtains, blinds and/or other closures installed in or on the entrances and/or exits of such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms which are closed while such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms are in use encourage patrons using such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms to engage in sexual acts therein with prostitutes, thereby promoting and encouraging prostitution and the commission of sexual acts which cause blood, semen and urine to be deposited on the floors and/or walls of such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms, which deposits could prove detrimental to the health and safety of other persons who may come in contact with such deposits; and
(6) The reasonable regulation and supervision of such adult-oriented establishments tends to discourage such sexual acts and prostitution, and thereby promotes the health, safety and welfare of the patrons, clients and customers of such establishments.
(C) The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments including, without limitation, those specifically cited at division (A) above, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of the town;
(D) The Constitution and laws of the State grant to the Town powers, especially police power, to enact reasonable legislation and measures to regulate and supervise adult-oriented establishments as hereinafter defined in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare; and
(E) It is not the intent of the town meeting, in enacting this chapter, to deny any person rights to speech protected by the United States and/or State Constitutions, nor is it the intent of the town meeting to impose any additional limitations or restrictions on the contents of any communicative materials, including sexually-oriented films, video tapes, books and/or other materials. Further, by enacting this chapter, the town meeting does not intend to deny or restrict the rights of any adult to obtain and/or view any sexually-oriented materials protected by the United States and/or State Constitutions, nor does it intend to restrict or deny any constitutionally protected rights that distributors or exhibitors of such sexually-oriented materials may have to sell, distribute or exhibit such materials.
(Ord. passed 2-29-1996)