(A) The City Council has reviewed various reports regarding sexually-oriented businesses and has considered studies done in other cities, ordinances of other cities, court cases regarding sexually-oriented businesses, and other materials pertaining to adult uses and sexually-oriented businesses. In particular, the City Council has reviewed materials related to the adverse secondary characteristics related to adult uses and sexually-oriented businesses. The City Council has reviewed evidence taken from the City of Minneapolis, where studies have shown a strong correlation between sexually-explicit businesses and increased crime rates, and from the City of Saint Paul, where studies have suggested such a correlation as well as a possible correlation between sexually-oriented businesses and depressed property values. The City Council has also relied upon evidence taken from reported court cases involving other municipalities which are smaller suburban cities in the state and in other states. The City Council believes that the experiences of the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are relevant to the city because of their close proximity, and that the smaller cities involved in cases from the state and other states are similar in their position as relatively small suburbs to major metropolitan areas.
(B) After careful consideration of these materials and other materials, including the Report of the Attorney General’s Working Group on the Regulation of Sexually-Oriented Businesses (State Attorney General’s Office, June 6, 1989), and in order to prevent the problems that cities around the nation have encountered with the unregulated location of adult uses and sexually-oriented businesses in their communities, the City Council has arrived at the following findings and conclusions.
(1) The City Council finds that sexually-oriented businesses have adverse secondary characteristics, particularly when they may be accessible to minors or are located near residential properties or schools, churches, temples, synagogues, day-care centers, libraries, recreational areas and parks, and the businesses can exert a dehumanizing influence on persons attending or using the properties.
(2) Sexually-oriented businesses can contribute to an increase in criminal activity in the area in which the businesses are located.
(3) 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 in which the businesses are located, thereby exacerbating the shortage of affordable and habitable housing for city residents.
(4) The concentration of sexually-oriented businesses in one area can have a substantially detrimental effect on the area in which the businesses are concentrated and on the overall quality of urban life. A cycle of decay can result from the influx and concentration of sexually-oriented businesses. The presence of the businesses is perceived by others as an indication that the area is deteriorating and the result can be very detrimental. In many cases, other businesses move out of the vicinity and residents flee from the area. Declining real estate values, which can result from the concentration of the businesses, erode the city’s tax base and contribute to overall urban blight.
(5) The regulation of the location and operation of sexually-oriented businesses is warranted to prevent the adverse secondary effects of the businesses on the city’s crime rate, its retail trade, its property values, and in general, the quality of the city’s neighborhoods, commercial, and industrial districts, and urban life.
(Prior Code, § 110.01)