[HISTORY: Adopted by the Village Board of the Village of Benton as Title 7, Ch. 7, of the Benton Code of Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 173.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
AMUSEMENT DEVICE
Any table, platform, mechanical device, or apparatus operated or intended to be operated for amusement, pleasure, test of skill, competition, or sport, the use or operation of which is conditioned upon payment of a consideration either by insertion of coin or token in a slot or otherwise. Such amusement device shall include, but not be limited to, devices commonly known as baseball, football, basketball, hockey, pinball, shuffleboard, ray guns, bowling games, bumper games, ski ball, electronic video games, and shall also include billiard tables and pool tables (whether coin operated or not). Such definition does not include a bowling alley, juke box or other coin-operated music machine or a mechanical children's amusement riding device.
AMUSEMENT PARLOR
Any premises operated by any organization, whether incorporated or not, which is the owner, lessee, or occupant of a building whose primary purpose or object of its existence or operation is that of providing use of amusement devices to the public at retail, and/or any premises operated by any organization, whether incorporated or not, which is the owner, lessee, or occupant of a building, the majority of whose gross receipts are derived from the providing of use of "amusement devices" to the public at retail.
A. 
License required. No person, firm, or corporation shall operate or keep an amusement parlor, as defined herein, without having obtained and posted on the premises, in plain view, a license to operate such parlor. Application shall be made to the Village Clerk-Treasurer on the form provided by such office, accompanied by an application fee as determined in § 173-1, which shall cover the cost of processing the application and shall be nonrefundable. The application shall set forth the following information:
(1) 
The name and address of the applicant, or, if a partnership, the names and addresses of all the partners, or, if a corporation, the names and addresses of the principal officers and registered agent thereof, and the name and address of the person who will supervise the game room.
(2) 
The name and addresses of the owners of the amusement devices to be located on the licensed premises, if such owners are different from that of the applicant. If the owners of the amusement devices are a partnership, the names and addresses of all the partners, or if a corporation, the names and addresses of the principal officers and registered agent thereof.
(3) 
A building plan of the premises to be licensed specifically describing and otherwise showing all dimensions, indicating the intended division of floor space, exits and entrances, the areas to be used for amusement devices, and the common aisles.
(4) 
A site plan of the premises to be licensed which shall include the proposed landscaping for the subject premises, and all the improvements, parking and driveway areas, and landscaping located on property adjacent to and within 20 feet of the property lines of the premises to be licensed.
(5) 
If the applicant operates other game rooms in other areas, the names and addresses of such other licensed establishments.
(6) 
Such application shall also contain such additional information as the Village deems necessary to assist it in determining the qualifications of the applicant for such license.
B. 
Public hearing. The application shall be forwarded to the Village Board which shall hold a public hearing prior to the granting or denial of any amusement parlor license. In reviewing each application, the Village Board shall find:
(1) 
That the establishment, maintenance, or operation of an amusement parlor at the location requested will not be detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, morals, comfort, or general welfare;
(2) 
That the proposed amusement parlor will not be injurious to the use and employment of other property in the immediate vicinity for the purpose already permitted, nor substantially diminish and impair property values within the neighborhood;
(3) 
That the establishment of the amusement parlor will not impede the normal orderly development and improvement of the surrounding property for uses permitted in the district;
(4) 
That adequate measures have been or will be taken to maintain good order surrounding the location thereof.
C. 
Issuance of license; term. The Village Clerk-Treasurer shall issue a license upon approval of the application by the Village Board, upon the payment by the applicant of an annual license fee as specified in § 173-1. All licenses issued herein shall be for one year ending on the 30th day of June and shall not be transferable.
A. 
No premises for which an amusement parlor license has been issued shall be permitted to remain open for the offering of electronic amusement devices to the public at retail between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
B. 
No premises for which an amusement parlor license has been issued and which is less than 1,000 feet from the main entrance of any established public or parochial school shall be permitted to remain open for the offering of amusement devices to the public at retail between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on any day in which such school is in regular session.
C. 
For the purposes of this section the term "public school" or "parochial school" shall be any institution providing learning facilities for Grades K through 8. The one-thousand-foot distance shall be measured by the shortest route along the highway from the closest point of the main entrance of such school to the main entrance of such premises.
The following general requirements shall apply to all amusement parlors licensed in accordance with this chapter:
A. 
All amusement parlors shall have an adult supervisor on the premises at all times in which the game room is open to the public.
B. 
Every amusement parlor shall provide an adequate area and number of bicycle racks for the orderly parking of bicycles, which area shall be separate from a required vehicle parking stall and shall be so located as to not occupy any portion of a public sidewalk or to otherwise obstruct pedestrian passage to and from the premises.
C. 
Parking shall be provided at an off-street parking area sufficient in size to provide parking at the ratio of one parking space for each 100 square feet of gross floor area, or fraction thereof, for each amusement parlor.
D. 
Game rooms licensed herein shall comply with all other building, fire code and applicable Village laws and regulations.
Licenses may be revoked by the Village Board after a hearing, in the event an amusement parlor's location or operation fails to conform to standards provided in this chapter, or violates any other provision of this Code of Ordinances.
The Village Board may waive or modify the requirement of this chapter due to the physical characteristics of the licensed site.