The Board of Selectmen of the Town of East Haddam, Connecticut
finds:
A. There may in the future be adult-oriented establishments located
in the Town of East Haddam which require special supervision from
the Town's public safety 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,
studies and rooms for the private viewing of so-called "adult" motion
pictures and/or videotapes 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 guardian;
(3) Such closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms 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 and rooms;
(5) Doors, curtains, blinds and/or other closures installed in or on
the entrances and/or exits of such booths, cubicles and rooms, 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 or others,
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 into contact with such deposits;
(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; and
(7) The nature of adult-oriented establishments and the traffic which
they generate, and the potential and the propensity for such establishments
to attract persons interested in explicit sexual activities or erotic
art forms and the potential for outdoor assembly of such persons around
the premises of such establishments, are such as to make them incompatible
with nearby uses of land where concentrations of children or youth
tend to congregate.
C. The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments, including, without limitations, those specifically cited at Subsection
A hereof, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of East Haddam.
D. The Constitution and Laws of the State of Connecticut 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.
E. It is not the intent of the Board of Selectmen, in enacting this
chapter, to deny to any person rights to speech protected by the United
States and/or State Constitution, nor is it the intent of the Board
of Selectmen to impose any additional limitations or restrictions
on the contents of any communicative materials, including sexually
oriented films, videotapes, books and/or other materials. Further,
by enacting this chapter, the Board of Selectmen 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 Constitution, 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.
For the purpose of this chapter, the words and phrases used
herein shall have the following meanings, unless otherwise clearly
indicated by the context:
ADULT AMUSEMENT MACHINE
Includes any amusement machine that is regularly used for
presenting material distinguished or characterized by an emphasis
on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities
and specified anatomical areas, as defined below, for observation
by patrons therein.
ADULT BOOKSTORE
An establishment having any portion of its stock and trade
in books, films, videocassettes or other visual representations, or
magazines and other periodicals which are distinguished or characterized
by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined below,
provided that this definition shall not apply to any establishment
in which such materials constitute less than 10% of the value of the
inventory of said establishment and in which the display of such materials
does not permit the viewing of specified sexual activities or specified
anatomical areas within the establishment.
[Amended 3-28-2018]
ADULT ENTERTAINMENT
Any exhibition of any adult-oriented motion pictures, live
performance, display or dance of any type, removal of articles of
clothing or appearing unclothed, pantomime, modeling, or any other
personal services offered customers, which has as a significant or
substantial portion of such performance any actual or simulated performance
of specified sexual activities or exhibition and viewing of specified
anatomical areas.
ADULT MINI-MOTION-PICTURE THEATER
An enclosed building with a capacity of less than 50 persons
regularly used for presenting material distinguished or characterized
by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined below,
for observation by patrons therein.
ADULT MOTION-PICTURE THEATER
An enclosed building with a capacity of 50 or more persons
regularly used for presenting material distinguished or characterized
by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined below,
for observation by patrons therein.
ADULT-ORIENTED ESTABLISHMENT
A.
Shall include, without limitation, adult bookstores, adult motion-picture
theaters, adult mini-motion-picture theaters and commercial establishments
containing one or more adult amusement machines.
B.
"Adult-oriented establishment" further means any premises to
which the public, patrons or members are invited or admitted, and
which are so physically arranged as to provide booths, cubicles, rooms,
studios, compartments or stalls separate from the common areas of
the premises for the purpose of viewing adult entertainment, when
such adult entertainment is held, conducted, operated or maintained
for a profit, direct or indirect. An adult-oriented establishment
further includes, without limitation, any adult entertainment studio
or any premises that are physically arranged and used as such, whether
advertised or represented as an adult entertainment studio, rap studio,
exotic dance studio, encounter studio, sensitivity studio, modeling
studio, or any other term of like import.
[Amended 3-28-2018]
AMUSEMENT MACHINE
Any machine which, upon the payment of a charge or upon insertion
of a coin, slug, token, plate, or disk, may be operated by the public
for use as a game, entertainment or amusement, whether or not registering
a score and whether or not electronically operated.
EMPLOYEE
Any and all persons, including independent contractors, who
work in or at or render any services directly related to the operation
of an adult-oriented establishment.
ENTERTAINER
Any person who provides entertainment within an adult-oriented
establishment as defined in this section, whether or not a fee is
charged or accepted for entertainment and whether or not entertainment
is provided as an employee or an independent contractor.
INSPECTOR
One or more employees of the Town of East Haddam designated
by the Board of Selectmen who shall hereby be authorized to inspect
premises regulated under this chapter and to take the required actions
authorized by this chapter in case of violations being found on such
premises and to require corrections of unsatisfactory conditions found
on said premises.
MINOR
Deemed to refer to a person under the age of 18 years.
OPERATOR
Any person, or any proprietor, shareholder, general partner
or limited partner who holds any share or partnership interest of
any business which is operating, conducting, owning or maintaining
an adult-oriented establishment.
SEXUAL ACTIVITIES
As used in this chapter, is not intended to include any medical
publications or films or bona fide educational publication or films,
nor does it include any art or photography publications which devote
at least 25% of the lineage of each issue to articles and advertisements
dealing with subjects of art or photographs; nor does this definition
apply to any news periodical which reports or describes current events
and which, from time to time, publishes photographs of nude or seminude
persons in connection with the dissemination of the news; nor does
this definition apply to publications or films which describe and
report different cultures and which, from time to time, publish or
show photographs or depictions of nude or seminude persons other than
describing cultures in which nudity or seminudity is indigenous to
the population.
SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS
A.
Less than completely and opaquely covered:
(1)
Human genitals, pubic region.
(3)
Female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the
aureola; and
B.
Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state even if completely
covered.
SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES
A.
Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
B.
Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or sodomy.
C.
Fondling or erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region,
buttocks or female breasts.
SUPERVISOR
The Building Official or Police Department.
Adult-oriented establishments shall be located no less than
3,000 feet from any property containing a public or private school
serving grade 12 or lower; any day-care center, nursery school or
similar use; 1,000 feet from any property containing a church or place
of worship, and 100 feet from any public park and recreational facility
owned by the Town of East Haddam, State of Connecticut, or nonprofit,
non-stock corporation or association in the public interest. Adult-oriented
establishments shall not be abutting to existing residential structures.
The separating distance required by this section shall be determined
as of the date that any adult-oriented establishment commences to
operate in accordance with this chapter and any applicable provision(s)
of the East Haddam Zoning Regulations, Building Code, Health Code
or other applicable state and local laws and such adult-oriented establishment
shall not be deemed to violate this section if, thereafter, one of
the enumerated uses is established within the distances set forth
herein.
No adult-oriented establishments shall be permitted in any portion
of a building that is less than 300 feet from that portion of the
building occupied by an existing adult-oriented establishment. The
300 feet shall be the straight horizontal distance from a public entrance
or exit into or out of any portion of the building housing such adult-oriented
establishment or, if only a portion of the building is so used, any
public entrance or exit into or out of any portion of the building
housing such adult-oriented establishment to any such public entrance
or exit for any existing adult-oriented establishment.
The provisions of the preceding §§
150-4 and
150-5 shall not be deemed to prohibit any use preexisting the enactment of this chapter. Any preexisting use which shall be discontinued for a period of 30 days shall thereafter conform to §§
150-4 and
150-5.