Village of Cobleskill, NY Chapter 45 Adult Use and Entertainment Establishments

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Cobleskill 4-21-2003 by L.L. No. 2-2003. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Zoning — See Ch. 160.

§ 45-1 Title.

This chapter shall be known as the "Adult Use and Entertainment Establishments Regulation Law" of the Village of Cobleskill and shall amend the Zoning Code of the Village.

§ 45-2 Legislative intent.

It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate the creation, opening, commencement and/or operation of adult use and entertainment establishments, as herein defined, in order to achieve the following:

A. To preserve the character and the quality of life in the Village of Cobleskill.

B. To control harmful and adverse secondary effects of adult uses, documented in the Village of Cobleskill Adult Entertainment Secondary Effects Study, on the surrounding areas such as decreased property values, parking and traffic problems, increased crime, excess noise, litter and loitering.

C. To restrict minors' access to adult uses.

D. To maintain the general welfare and safety for the Village of Cobleskill residents.

§ 45-3 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ADULT USE AND ENTERTAINMENT ESTABLISHMENTS

A public or private establishment, or any part thereof, which presents any of the following entertainments, exhibitions or services: topless and/or bottomless dancers; strippers; topless waitressing. busing or service; topless hair care or massages: service or entertainment where the servers or entertainers wear pasties or G-strings or both: adult arcade; adult bookstore or adult video stores; adult cabarets; adult motels; adult motion picture theaters; adult theaters; nude model studios and sexual encounter centers. Adult use and entertainment establishments customarily exclude minors by reason of age, and are those businesses defined as follows:

A. ADULT ARCADE Any place to which the public is permitted or invited wherein coin-operated or slug-operated or electronically, electrically, or mechanically controlled still or motion-picture machines, projectors, or other image-producing devices which are regularly used to show films, motion pictures, videocassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions, are maintained to show images to five or fewer persons per machine at any one time, and where the images so displayed are distinguished or characterized by depicting or describing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.

B. ADULT BOOKSTORE or ADULT VIDEO STORE

(1) A commercial establishment that has a significant or substantial portion of its stock-in-trade or derives a significant or substantial portion of its interior business advertising from the sale or rental for any form of consideration any one or more of the following:

(a) Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter, or photographs, films, motion picture, videocassettes or video reproductions, slides, or other visual representations which depict or describe specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas; or

(b) Instruments, devices, or paraphernalia that are designed for use or marketed primarily for stimulation of human genital organs or for sadomasochistic use or abuse of themselves or others.

(2) A commercial establishment may have other principal business purposes that do not involve the offering for sale or rental of material depicting or describing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas and still be categorized as an adult bookstore or adult video store so long as one of its principal business purposes is the offering for sale or rental for consideration the specified materials which depict or describe specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas. For purposes of this definition, principal business purpose shall mean 25% or more of any of the following:

(a) The number of different titles or kinds of such merchandise;

(b) The number of copies or pieces of such merchandise;

(c) The amount of floor space devoted to the sale and/or display of such merchandise; or

(d) The amount of advertising that is devoted to such merchandise, either in print or broadcast media.

C. ADULT CABARET A nightclub, bar, nonalcoholic or juice bar, restaurant, or similar commercial establishment which regularly features:

(1) Persons who appear in a state of nudity;

(2) Live performances which are characterized by the exposure of specified anatomical areas or by specified sexual activities; or

(3) Films, motion pictures, videocassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions that are characterized by the depiction or description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.

D. ADULT MOTEL A hotel, motel or similar commercial establishment which:

(1) Offers accommodations to the public for any form of consideration; provides patrons with closed-circuit television transmissions, films, motion pictures, videocassettes, slides, or other photographic reproductions which are characterized by the depiction or description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas; and which advertises the availability of sexually oriented type of material by means of a sign visible from the public right-of-way or by means of off-premises advertising including but not limited to newspapers, magazines, pamphlets or leaflets, radio or television;

(2) Offers sleeping rooms for rent on a regular basis for a period of time that is less than 10 hours; or

(3) Allows a tenant or occupant of a room to subrent the room for a period of time that is less than 10 hours.

E. ADULT MOTION PICTURE THEATER A commercial establishment where, for any form of consideration, films, motion pictures, videocassettes, slides, or similar photographic reproductions are shown which are characterized by the depiction or description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.

F. ADULT THEATER A theater, concert hall, auditorium or similar commercial establishment which for any form of consideration, features persons who appear in a state of nudity or live performances which are characterized by the exposure of specified anatomical areas or by specified sexual activities.

G. MASSAGE PARLOR Any place where, for any form of consideration or gratuity, massage, alcohol rub, administration of fomentations, electric or magnetic treatments, or any other treatment manipulation of the human body which occurs as a part of or in connection with specified sexual activities, or where any such person providing such treatment, manipulation, or service related thereto, exposes his or her specified anatomical areas. The definition of "adult use" shall not include the practice of massage in any licensed hospital, nor by a licensed physician, surgeon, chiropractor or osteopath, nor by trainers for any amateur, semiprofessional or professional athlete or athletic team or school athletic program.

H. NUDE MODEL STUDIO Any place where a person who appears in a state of nudity or displays specified anatomical areas is regularly provided to be observed, sketched, drawn, painted, sculptured, photographed, or similarly depicted by other persons who pay money or any form of consideration, other than as a part of a course of instruction offered by an educational institution established pursuant to the laws of the State of New York.

I. SEXUAL ENCOUNTER CENTER A business or commercial enterprise that, as one of its primary business purposes, offers, for any form of consideration, a place where two or more persons may congregate, associate, or consort for the purpose of specified sexual activities or exposure of specified anatomical areas, or activities between persons when one or more of the persons is in a state of nudity or seminude.

MINOR

A person less than 18 years of age.

NUDITY OR STATE OF NUDITY

The appearance of specified anatomical areas.

PERSON

An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity.

REGULARLY

More than once annually.

SEMINUDE

A state of dress in which clothing covers no more than the specified anatomical area, as well as portions of the body covered by supporting straps or devices.

SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS

A. Unless completely and opaquely covered, human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and

B. Even if completely and opaquely covered, male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.

SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITY

Includes any of the following:

A. The fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, anus or breasts;

B. Sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including intercourse, oral copulation, or sodomy;

C. Masturbation, actual or simulated; or

D. Excretory functions.

§ 45-4 Allowed zoning districts.

All adult use and entertainment establishments as defined herein may only be created, opened, commenced or operated within the Highway-Business (HB) Zoning District and Industrial (I-1) Zoning District within the Village of Cobleskill by special use permit issued by the Planning Board. All adult use and entertainment establishments shall obtain site plan approval from the Planning Board in accordance with Chapter 160, Article VII of the Zoning Law.

§ 45-5 Location within allowed zoning districts.

A. An adult use and entertainment establishment shall be allowed after issuance of a special permit and approved site plan only in the allowed zoning districts set forth in § 45-4 hereof, and, within such district, shall have minimum area requirements as described in Chapter 160, Article IV, § 160-13B of the Zoning Law, and the structure the adult use is located in and any accessory use/structure shall not be allowed:

(1) Within 100 feet of the property line of a parcel used for residential purposes in the Village;

(2) Within 750 feet of the property line of a parcel containing a church, synagogue, other place of worship, active cemetery, library, school, licensed day-care facility, park, playground, government facility commonly visited by the public (i.e., post office, Village office, state/federal/county office), nursing home, adult home, or hospital, whether or not such use is located in the Village;

(3) On the same parcel as another adult use and entertainment establishment; or

(4) Within 750 feet of the property line of another adult use and entertainment establishment, whether or not such use is located in the Village.

B. The above distances of separation shall be measured from the nearest exterior wall or corner of the structure containing the adult use and entertainment establishment.

§ 45-6 Standards appropriate to special use permit and site plan for adult use and entertainment establishments.

The Village of Cobleskill intends to protect the scenic beauty of the Village and the value of property in the Village. Therefore, adult use and entertainment establishments shall meet all applicable requirements in the Village of Cobleskill Zoning Law and shall be designed to be as least intrusive as possible by using the following additional standards:

A. Such use and parking area shall be adequately fenced and/or buffered (landscaping/berms) for screening from any adjacent property, and lighting shall be directed away from adjacent property and public highways.

B. Parking shall be located in the side or rear yard, and no parking space may be located less than 50 feet from any property line.

C. Any structure containing the adult use and entertainment establishment and any accessory structure shall have a residential appearance similar to existing dwelling units (excluding mobile homes) in the Village of Cobleskill. Building design shall avoid areas of blank wall sections and windows or one-way windows shall comply with § 45-7. Display prohibited.

§ 45-7 Display prohibited.

All adult uses and entertainment establishments shall be conducted in an enclosed building. It shall be a violation to display or exhibit (in the open air, through a window, or by means of a sign. depiction or decoration), or to allow to be displayed or exhibited, any specified anatomical area or specified sexual activity.

§ 45-8 Existing adult use and entertainment establishments.

Any adult use and entertainment establishment as defined herein operating at the time of the effective date of this chapter shall cease all activity that defines it as an adult use and entertainment establishment within 30 days of the effective date of this chapter. Any owner of an adult use and entertainment establishment as defined herein operating at the time of the effective date of this chapter in which the principal business purpose involves activities which depict or describe specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas and discontinuance of such activity within 30 days would constitute a significant financial burden, can apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a one-time extension of the use for a period not to exceed eight months. For purposes of this provision, "principal business purpose" shall mean 25% or more of any of the following:

A. The number of different titles or kinds of such merchandise;

B. The number of copies or pieces of such merchandise;

C. The amount of floor space devoted to the sale and/or display of such merchandise; or

D. The amount of advertising that is devoted to such merchandise, either in print or broadcast media.

§ 45-9 Penalties for offenses.

A. Any person, firm, corporation or entity found to be violating any provisions of this chapter shall be served with a written notice by the Code Enforcement Officer or his/her designee, stating the nature of the violation and providing for immediate correction thereof. Such notice shall be served by one of the following methods:

(1) By personal service;

(2) By certified mail, return receipt requested, addressed to his or their last known address as shown on the latest completed assessment roll of the Village of Cobleskill; or

(3) By posting of such notice in a conspicuous place upon the premises affected, and a copy thereof mailed, addressed to his or their last known address as shown on the latest completed assessment roll of the Village of Cobleskill.

B. Any person, firm, corporation or entity that shall violate any portion of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed $500 for each violation. The continuation of a violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each day the violation is continued, a separate and distinct offense hereunder.

C. The owner and/or any occupant and/or any tenant and/or general agent of a building, premises or part thereof where such a violation has been committed or does exist shall be guilty of such an offense.

D. Any person, firm, corporation or entity violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall become liable to the Village for any expense or loss or damage occasioned the Village by reason of such violation.

E. The imposition of penalties herein prescribed shall not preclude the Village or any person from instituting appropriate legal action or proceedings to prevent a violation of this chapter, or to restrain or enjoin the use or occupancy of a building, premises or part thereof in violation of this chapter.