This bylaw is enacted pursuant to MGL c. 40A
and pursuant to the Town's authority under the Home Rule Amendment
to the Massachusetts Constitution to serve the compelling Town interests
of limiting the location of and preventing the clustering and concentration
of certain adult entertainment uses, as defined and designated herein,
in response to studies demonstrating their deleterious effects.
A.
It is the purpose of this adult entertainment bylaw
to address and mitigate the secondary effects of adult entertainment
establishments and sexually oriented businesses that are referenced
and defined herein. Secondary effects have been shown to include increased
crime, adverse impacts on public health, adverse impacts on the business
climate of the Town, adverse impacts on the property values of residential
and commercial properties, and adverse impacts on the quality of life
in the Town. All of said secondary impacts are adverse to the health,
safety, and general welfare of the Town of Harwich and its inhabitants.
B.
The provisions of this bylaw have neither the purpose
nor intent of imposing a limitation on the content of any communicative
matter or materials, including sexually oriented matter or materials.
Similarly, it is not the purpose or intent of this bylaw to restrict
or deny access by adults to adult entertainment establishments or
to sexually oriented matter or materials that are protected by the
Constitution of the United States or of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
nor to restrict or deny rights that distributors or exhibitors of
such matter or materials may have to sell, rent, distribute or exhibit
such matter or materials. Neither is it the purpose or intent of this
bylaw to legalize the sale, rental, distribution, or exhibition of
obscene or other illegal matter or materials.
Adult entertainment uses shall include the following
uses:
A.
Adult bookstore, as defined by MGL c. 40A, § 9A.
B.
Adult motion-picture theater, as defined by MGL c.
40A, § 9A.
C.
Adult paraphernalia store, as defined by MGL c. 40A,
§ 9A.
D.
Adult video store, as defined by MGL c. 40A, § 9A.
E.
Any establishment which displays live nudity for its
patrons, with the term "nudity" as defined by MGL c. 272, § 31.
Adult entertainment uses shall be prohibited
in all zoning districts except as otherwise permitted in this bylaw
and may be permitted only upon the grant of a special permit by the
Planning Board. Such special permit shall not be granted unless each
of the following standards has been met:
A.
The application for a special permit for an adult
entertainment use shall provide the name, address, and telephone number
of the legal owner and all principal investors of the establishment,
the legal owner and all principal investors of the property, and the
manager of the proposed establishment.
B.
No adult entertainment use special permit shall be
issued to any person convicted of violating the provisions of MGL
c. 119, § 63 or MGL c. 272, § 28. The applicant
shall be responsible for all related costs for record check processing.
C.
Location.
(1)
Adult entertainment uses shall not be located within:
(a)
One thousand feet from the nearest church, school,
park, playground, play field, youth center, children's day-care center,
licensed home day-care facility, library (public or private), recreation
facility or area open to the public; or
(b)
One thousand feet from the nearest establishment
licensed under MGL c. 138, § 12.
(2)
The distances specified above shall be measured by
a straight line from the nearest property line of the premises on
which the proposed adult entertainment use is to be located to the
nearest property line of any of the designated uses set forth above.
(3)
In addition, no structure which contains an adult
entertainment use shall be closer than 100 feet to any primarily residential
zoning district boundary.
D.
All building openings, entries and windows shall be
screened in such a manner as to prevent visual access to the interior
of the establishment by the public.
E.
No adult entertainment use shall be allowed to display
for advertisement or other purpose any signs, placards or other like
materials to the general public on the exterior of the building or
on the interior where the same may be seen through glass or other
like transparent material which contain any sexually explicit figures
or words as defined in MGL c. 272, § 31.
F.
No adult use shall be allowed to disseminate or offer
to disseminate adult matter or paraphernalia to minors or suffer minors
to view displays or linger on the premises.
G.
The proposed adult entertainment use shall comply
with the off-street parking requirements set forth in this bylaw.
H.
No adult entertainment use shall have any flashing
lights or neon signs visible from outside the establishment.
I.
No adult entertainment use shall have a freestanding
accessory sign or off-premises sign.
J.
No adult entertainment use shall be established prior to submission and approval of a site plan by the Planning Board, pursuant to § 325-55. The site plan shall, at the minimum, depict all existing and proposed buildings, parking spaces, driveways, service areas, and other open uses. The site plan shall show the distances between the proposed adult entertainment use and the boundary of the nearest primarily residential zoning district and the nearest property line of each of the uses set forth in Subsection C above.
K.
No adult entertainment establishment shall employ
any person or persons who would be excluded as a permit holder under
this bylaw.
The special permit granting authority may impose
reasonable conditions, safeguards and limitations on the time or use
of any special permit granted and may require that any such special
permit granted shall be personal to the applicant, shall not run with
the land, and shall expire upon expiration of the applicant's lease
or upon sale or transfer of the subject property.
A special permit to conduct an adult entertainment
use shall expire after a period of two calendar years from its date
of issuance and shall be automatically renewable for successive two-year
periods thereafter, provided that a written request for such renewal
is made to the special permit granting authority prior to said expiration
and that no objection to said renewal is made and sustained by the
special permit granting authority based upon public safety factors
applied at the time that the original special permit was granted.
In no event shall any variances of the requirements
pertaining to adult entertainment as defined and set forth in this
bylaw be granted.
The provisions of this article are severable,
and in the event that any provision of this article is determined
to be invalid for any reason the remaining provisions shall remain
in full force and effect.
