[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Selectmen of the Town of
Winchester 2-12-2000 (§ 179
of the prior compilation). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Board of Selectmen of the Town of Winchester finds:
A.
The operation of adult-oriented establishments requires special regulation
and supervision by the Town to protect, preserve and promote the health,
safety and welfare of the patrons, clients or customers and employees
of such establishments, as well as the health, safety and welfare
of the Town's citizens. Further, protecting order and morality, preserving
the character, and preventing the deterioration of the Town's neighborhoods,
avoiding blight, decreasing crime and juvenile delinquency, promoting
retail trade, maintaining property values, and ensuring sanitary and
safe public places are desirable objectives of the community and its
leaders.
B.
Statistics and studies performed by a substantial number of cities
and towns in the United States indicate that:
(1)
Large numbers of persons frequent such adult-oriented establishments,
especially those which provide closed booths, cubicles, studios and
rooms for the private viewing of so-called adult motion pictures and/or
videotapes and/or live entertainment; and
(2)
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 specified sexual activities; and
(3)
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, studios and rooms;
and
(4)
Doors, curtains, blinds and/or other closures installed or on the
entrances and/or exits of such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms
which are closed while such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms are
in use encourage patrons, clients or customers using such booths,
cubicles, studios and rooms to engage in specified sexual activities
therein with prostitutes and/or with other persons and/or by themselves,
thereby promoting or encouraging prostitution and the commission of
specified sexual activities which cause blood, semen, urine or other
bodily secretions 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; and
(5)
Booths, cubicles, studios and rooms which are closed while such booths,
cubicles, studios and rooms are in use often contain holes that have
been cut or smashed out of the walls or other partitioning material.
These holes permit the inhabitant of one booth to engage in specified
sexual activities with the inhabitant of an adjoining booth, cubicle,
studio or room. These promote and encourage specified sexual acts
to occur between persons anonymously. Anonymous sexual contact poses
a higher risk of spread of communicable diseases, including the AIDS
virus and Hepatitis B and other sexually transmitted diseases. Further,
the existence of such holes in booths, cubicles, studios and rooms
in an adult-oriented establishment provides an increased risk that
blood, semen, urine and other bodily secretions will 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; and
(6)
Specified sexual activities often occur at unregulated adult-oriented
establishments which provide live adult entertainment, specified sexual
activities, including sexual physical contact between employees and
patrons, clients or customers of adult-oriented establishments, and
specifically include lap dancing and/or manual or oral touching or
fondling of specified anatomical areas, whether clothed or unclothed.
Such casual, sexual physical contact between strangers may result
in the transmission of communicable diseases which would be detrimental
to the health of the patrons, clients or customers and employees of
such adult-oriented establishments; and
(7)
The unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments is associated
with an increase in the incidents of sex-related crimes and also has
a disruptive effect on the surrounding neighborhood by causing excessive
noise, parking problems, the presence of discarded sexually oriented
material on residential lawns, and the performance of sexual acts
in public places; and
(8)
The reasonable regulation and supervision of such adult-oriented
establishments tends to discourage prostitution, other sex-related
crimes, anonymous high-risk sexual contact and/or high-risk unsanitary
sexual activity, excessive noise and property devaluation, thereby
decreasing the incidents of communicable diseases and sex-related
crimes and thereby promoting and protecting the health, safety and
welfare of the employees and the public who patronize such establishments
and protecting the health, safety and property interests of the Town
and its citizens.
C.
The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments
is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety
of the citizens of Winchester. The Constitution and the 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 in order to protect the public health,
safety and welfare.
D.
It is not the intent of the Board of Selectman, in enacting this
chapter, to deny any person rights to speech protected by the United
States and/or State Constitutions, nor is it the intent of the Board
of Selectman to impose any limitations or restrictions on the content
of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented films,
videotapes, books and/or other materials. Further, by enacting this
chapter, the Board of Selectman does not intend to deny or restrict
the rights of any adult to obtain 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.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
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.
An establishment having 10% or more of the value of its stock
and trade in books, films or other video reproductions 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 herein,
and in conjunction therewith has facilities for the presentation of
adult entertainment as defined herein and including adult-oriented
films, movies, live entertainment for observation by patrons, clients
or customers therein.
Includes any exhibition of any adult-oriented motion pictures,
live performance, display or dance of any type 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, removal of articles of clothing or
appearing unclothed in a modeling or any other personal services offered
customers. It also 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 or specified anatomical areas as defined herein
for observation by patrons, clients or customers thereof.
Any 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 related to specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas as defined herein
for observation by patrons, clients or customers therein.
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 herein
for observation by patrons, clients or customers therein.
Includes, without limitation, adult amusement machine, adult
bookstores, adult motion-picture theaters, adult mini-motion-picture
theaters and further means any premises to which the public, patrons,
clients or customers or members are invited or admitted and wherever
an entertainer provides adult entertainment, or which premises are
so visibly 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-oriented motion pictures or wherein
an entertainer provides adult entertainment when such adult entertainment
is held, conducted, operated or maintained for profit, direct or indirect,
or not for profit. 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, rap studio, exotic dance
studio and encounter studio, sensitivity studio, massage studio, modeling
studio or any other term of like import.
The Chief of Police of the Town or his designated agent.
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.
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 the entertainment
is provided as an employee or an independent contractor.
The Director of Health, the Chief of Police, the Fire Marshal,
their agents or representatives or any Town employee designated to
make inspections for health, fire, building safety, public safety,
zoning purposes, violations of this chapter, or violations of any
laws or ordinances of the Town.
Shall be deemed to refer to a person under the age of 18
years.
Any person, partnership, corporation or other entity operating,
conducting or maintaining an adult-oriented establishment.
Simulated or actual:
Showing of human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or
arousal.
Acts of masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, bestiality,
necrophilia, sadomasochistic abuse, fellatio or cunnilingus.
Fondling or erotic touching of female genitals, pubic region,
buttocks or female breasts.
Lap dancing.
However, the definition of "specified sexual activity" shall
not apply to any medical publications or films or bona fide educational
publication or films, any art or photography publications which devote
25% of the lineage of each issue to articles and advertisements dealing
with subjects of art or photography; any periodical which reports
or describes current events and which from time to time publishes
photos of nude or seminude persons in connection with the dissemination
of the news, publications or films which describe and report different
cultures and which, from time to time, publish or show photographs
or depiction of nude or seminude persons when describing cultures
in which nudity or semi-nudity is indigenous to the population.
A.
No licensee, operator or employee of an adult-oriented establishment
shall perform or permit to be performed, offer to be performed or
allow patrons, clients or customers to perform any live performance
or conduct in violation of Connecticut's obscenity laws, C.G.S. §§ 53a-193
through 53a-210.
B.
No licensee, operator or employee of an adult-oriented establishment
shall allow or permit any minor to enter into or in any way loiter
in or around any part of such establishment.
C.
Every adult-oriented establishment doing business in the Town on
and after the effective date of this chapter shall be well-lighted
at all times and be physically arranged in such a manner that the
entire interior portion of the booths, cubicles, rooms or stalls,
when adult entertainment is provided, shall be clearly visible from
the common areas of the premises. Visibility into such booths, cubicles,
rooms or stalls shall not be blocked or obscured by doors, curtains,
partitions, drapes or any other obstruction whatsoever. It shall be
a violation of this chapter to install enclosed booths, cubicles,
rooms within an adult-oriented establishment for any purpose in any
way related to providing for the secluded viewing of adult-oriented
motion pictures or any other types of adult-oriented entertainment.
D.
The licensee and operator of each adult-oriented establishment shall
provide that any room or other area used for the purpose of viewing
adult-oriented motion pictures or other types of live entertainment
shall be well-lighted and readily accessible at all times and shall
be continuously open to view in its entirety. The premises shall be
equipped with overhead lighting fixtures of sufficient intensity to
illuminate every place to which patrons, clients or customers are
permitted access at the illumination of not less than one footcandle
as measured at the floor level. It shall be the duty of the operator
and its agents to ensure that the illumination described above is
maintained at all times that any patron is present in the premises.
E.
Every act or omission by an employee constituting a violation of
the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed the act or admission
of the licensee and operator as well, including any act or admission
as a result of the operator's negligent failure to supervise the employee's
conduct. The licensee and operator shall be punishable for such act
or admission in the same manner as if the licensee or operator committed
the act or caused the omission.
F.
The licensee and operator shall be responsible for the conduct of
all employees while on the premises, including parking areas and all
other portions of the property, and any act or admission of any employee
constituting a violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be
deemed the act or admission of the licensee and operator for purposes
of determining whether the operating license shall be revoked, suspended
or renewed and whether the licensee and operator shall be subject
to the penalties imposed by this chapter.
H.
No person shall be employed in any adult-oriented establishment within three years of conviction of any of the crimes specified in § 162-8D(9) of this chapter unless such conviction has been submitted for appellate review, in which case employment shall be continued until such appeal is sustained.
I.
Every adult-oriented establishment shall display a sign outside each
entrance bearing the words "Adult-oriented establishment. Persons
under 18 not admitted." in letters three inches high.
J.
The licensee and operator shall ensure compliance of the adult-oriented
establishment and its patrons with the provisions of this chapter.
K.
Exterior display. No adult entertainment use shall be conducted in
any manner that permits the observation of any material depicting,
describing or relating to specified sexual activities or specified
anatomical areas, from any public way or from any property not registered
as an adult entertainment use. This provision shall apply to any display,
decoration, sign, show window or other opening.
Adult-oriented establishments shall be located no less than
1,500 feet from any of the following uses if existing at the time
when the adult-oriented establishment is established: any public or
private school serving grade 12 or lower, any day-care center, nursery
school or similar use, any public park or playground, any church or
place of worship or other community building or any residential zone.
Measurements of this shall be from any portion of the building housing
such adult-oriented establishment to any portion of the parcel of
land containing such land uses or being residentially zoned. The separating
distance required by this section shall be determined as of the date
that the adult-oriented establishment commences to operate in accordance
with this chapter and any applicable provisions of the Town of Winchester
Zoning Regulations, Building Code, Health Code, and 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 distance set forth herein.
No adult-oriented establishments shall be permitted in any portion
of a building that is less than 1,500 feet from the closest property
line on which the adult-oriented establishment is located to the closest
property line of another adult-oriented establishment.
The provisions of the preceding §§ 162-4 and 162-5 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 §§ 162-4 and 162-5, excluding therefrom any discontinuance caused by a suspension of the operating license.
A.
Except as provided in Subsection D below, from and after the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, corporation or other entity to engage in, conduct or carry on or permit to be engaged in, conducted or carried on in or upon any premises in the Town, the operation of an adult-oriented establishment without first obtaining a license to operate from the Winchester Chief of Police.
B.
A license may be issued for only one adult-oriented establishment
located at a fixed and certain place. Any person, partnership or corporation
which desires to operate more than one adult-oriented establishment
must have a license for each such establishment.
C.
It shall be a violation of this chapter for any entertainer, employee,
owner or operator to knowingly work in or about or to knowingly perform
any service directly related to the operation of any unlicensed adult-oriented
establishment.
D.
All existing adult-oriented establishments at the time of the passage
of this chapter must submit an application for a license within 60
days of the effective date of this chapter. If no application is filed
within said sixty-day period, then such existing adult-oriented establishment
shall cease operations, unless any such establishment has appealed
the enactment of this chapter, whereupon this chapter shall not be
enforced as to such establishment until such appeal is dismissed and
judgment rendered in favor of the Town. If an application is filed
then this chapter shall not be enforced as to such establishment until
such application is denied.
E.
Each license shall be specific to a licensee and to a location and
may not be sold, assigned or transferred to any person, corporation,
partnership or other entity in any way.
A.
Upon the effective date of this chapter, the operator of any adult-oriented
establishment shall be responsible for and shall acquire a license
from the Winchester Chief of Police in accordance with this section.
B.
The operator of each adult-oriented establishment shall submit an
application in triplicate to the Town Clerk, together with an application
fee in an amount set from time to time by the Board of Selectmen prior
to commencement of business or within 60 days of the effective date
of this chapter for any establishment already open for business. The
Town Clerk shall date stamp all copies of the application and shall
promptly deliver a copy of the application to the Chief of Police.
The application shall be made upon a form prepared by the Chief of
Police and disseminated by the Town Clerk. In instances where a corporation
or a partner is the applicant, the application shall be signed and
filed by a person having direct control or management of the proposed
adult-oriented establishment or by an officer, director, majority
shareholder or majority partner of the corporation or general partner
of the partnership or manager or managing member of any other entity.
C.
The applicant, within two business days of submitting an application
to the Town Clerk, shall erect and maintain for a period of not less
than 14 consecutive days, in a legible condition, a sign not less
than four feet by four feet upon the site to be operated as an adult-oriented
establishment, which sign shall set forth the name of the proposed
licensee and reflect the filing of an application for an adult-oriented
establishment. The sign shall be posted along the front of the property
in an area clearly visible from a Town road or state highway abutting
the property. After the sign has been properly erected and maintained
for 14 consecutive days, the applicant shall provide to the Chief
of Police a photograph of the sign and a statement under oath attesting
to compliance with the foregoing sign requirements.
D.
The applicant for a license shall furnish the following information:
(1)
Name and residential address of the applicant, owner, operator, manager
and any other person having direct control or management of the adult-oriented
establishment, including all aliases, place of employment, date of
birth, social security number, driver's license number and federal
tax identification number, if any.
(2)
Name and address of all employees and any other persons directly
involved in the operation of the adult-oriented establishment, including
aliases, date of birth, social security number, driver's license number
and federal tax identification number, if any.
(3)
Written proof that the applicant is at least 18 years of age.
(4)
The exact nature of the entertainment to be conducted at the adult-oriented
establishment.
(5)
The address of the adult-oriented establishment to be operated by
the applicant.
(6)
Any adult-oriented entertainment or similar business license/permit
history of the applicant, whether such person has previously operated
in this or another municipality or state under license or without
license, has had any such license revoked or suspended, the reason
therefor and the business entity or trade name under which the applicant
operated that was subject to the suspension or revocation.
(7)
If the application is a corporation, the application shall specify
the name of the corporation, the date and state of incorporation and
the name and address of the registered agent.
(8)
The statement by the applicant that he or she is familiar with the
provisions of this chapter and is in compliance with them.
(9)
Any criminal convictions of the applicant, operator and other persons
directly involved in the management or control of the adult-oriented
establishment to any crime involving prostitution, obscenity, or other
sex-related crime or drug offense in any jurisdiction within three
years of the date of the filing of the application. Such crimes include,
but are not limited to, prostitution, soliciting prostitution, promoting
or permitting prostitution and sexual assault.
(10)
An accurate to scale but not necessarily professionally drawn
floor plan of the business premises clearly indicating the location
of one or more manager's stations.
E.
If a license to operate is granted, the information furnished in
the application shall be updated within 30 days of any changes. Said
update shall be filed at the office of the Town Clerk, who shall promptly
forward such update to the Chief of Police.
A.
No license shall be issued unless the Chief of Police has investigated
the applicant's qualifications to be licensed. The investigation shall
be conducted only to confirm the qualification of the applicant and
to inspect the premises for compliance with all laws and regulations.
The results of the investigation shall be put in writing and filed
with the Town Clerk and mailed to the applicant within 60 days after
the application was filed. Additionally, the premises of the adult-oriented
establishment shall be inspected for compliance with the provisions
of this chapter and all local and state codes and regulations, including
but not limited to health, fire, building and zoning regulations.
Said inspection shall be completed and a report issued to the Chief
of Police within 30 days of the filing of the application and shall
be included with the investigation results of the Chief of Police.
The Chief of Police shall either issue a license or notify the applicant
of the denial of the application within 75 days after receipt of a
completed application. If he fails to do so, the application shall
be deemed granted.
B.
The Chief of Police shall issue to the applicant a license to operate
an adult-oriented establishment within 75 days from the date of the
filing of an application if all the requirements for an adult-oriented
establishment described in this chapter are met, unless he finds that:
(1)
The operation as proposed by the applicant if permitted would not
have complied with all applicable laws and regulations, including,
but not limited to, the building, health, housing, zoning and fire
codes of the Town. If the premises are not in compliance, the applicant
shall be advised of the reasons in writing and what, if any, measures
the applicant can take to bring the premises into compliance for a
license to issue.
(2)
The applicant or any other person who will be directly engaged in the management and operation of an adult-oriented establishment has been convicted in this or any other state of any of the crimes specified in § 162-8 above, except those specified in Subsection B(3) below, within three years of the date of filing of the application.
(3)
The applicant or any other person who will be directly engaged in
the management and operation of an adult-oriented establishment has
been convicted of any obscenity offense in violation of C.G.S. §§ 53a-194,
53a-196a, 53a-196b, 53a-196c within two years of the date of the filing
of the application.
(4)
The applicant has submitted a false statement or representation or
misleading information on the application.
(5)
The applicant previously violated this chapter within five years
immediately preceding the date of the filing of the application.
(6)
An applicant has been employed in an adult-oriented establishment
in a managerial capacity within the preceding 36 months and knowingly:
(a)
Permitted alcoholic liquor or cereal or malt beverages to be
illegally brought or consumed upon the premises;
(b)
Permitted the sale, distribution, delivery or consumption of
any controlled substance or illegal drug or narcotic on the grounds;
(c)
Permitted any person under the age of 18 to be in or upon the
premises of an adult entertainment business; or
(d)
Permitted any act of prostitution or patronizing prostitution
as defined under the state law on the premises.
C.
Whenever an application is denied, the Chief of Police shall notify
the applicant in writing within 75 days of the date of the application
stating the reasons for such denial.
D.
When an application is denied solely for the reasons stated in Subsection B(1), and such violation is correctable, the applicant shall be given an additional 30 days from the date of such notification of denial to bring the premises into compliance. Upon verification by inspection that the correction has been made within 30 days, which shall be determined no later than three business days after receipt of written notice and corrections from the applicant to the Chief of Police, a license shall be issued to the applicant so long as no new violations or other disqualifying factors have occurred within those 30 days.
E.
The license, if granted, shall state on its face the name and residence
address for the applicant to whom it is granted, the expiration date,
the address of the adult-oriented establishment and the department
or public official and telephone number to report any violation of
this chapter.
F.
The license shall be posted in a conspicuous place at or near the
entrance to the adult-oriented establishment so that it may be easily
read at any time.
A.
Each license issued to a qualified applicant shall expire one year from the date it is issued unless it is renewed upon application of the licensee accompanied by payment of a renewal fee in an amount set from time to time by the Board of Selectmen. Such application and application fee shall be submitted by the licensee to the Town Clerk at least 60 days before the expiration date, but not more than 90 days. Provided the application is filed within 60 days of its expiration date and the application fee paid, the license shall be renewed for the same licensee at the same location by the Chief of Police unless the licensee's file contains uncorrected violations of this chapter or uncorrected violations of health, fire or safety codes and regulations of which the licensee has received written notice. The renewed license shall be mailed to the licensee by certified mail prior to the expiration date of the previous license. No establishment shall continue operations without a license except in accordance with the provision of § 162-7B.
B.
In the event that there are uncorrected violations of this chapter
or uncorrected violations of health, fire or safety codes and regulations
of which the renewal applicant has received written notice, license
renewal shall be delayed for a maximum of 30 days in order for all
corrections to be completed and inspections done to determine compliance.
If such corrections of violations are not made by the applicant within
the 30 days beyond the expiration date, no license renewal will be
issued. A notice of nonrenewal shall be mailed by the Chief of Police
to the licensee by certified mail within five days after the extended
thirty-day period, stating the reasons for the nonrenewal.
C.
Notwithstanding the provisions in Subsection B above, in no instance shall a renewal be issued to a licensee that has two or more violations of § 162-3A of this chapter for which the licensee has received written notice or one or more uncorrected violations of this chapter pending for over 60 days. A written notice of such nonrenewal shall be mailed by the Chief of Police to the licensee by certified mail prior to the expiration date of the license sought to be renewed, stating the reason for the nonrenewal revocation.
D.
Should a license not be renewed for any violation provided herein,
no license shall issue for the same licensee for five years.
A.
The Chief of Police or an authorized representative may suspend the
license for a period not to exceed 30 days upon his determination
that a licensee, operator or employee has violated any part of this
chapter. Said suspension shall be issued in writing, mailed by certified
mail, return receipt requested, to the licensee at the address of
the establishment or at the home of the licensee or served by process
server at the usual place of abode of the licensee or at the address
of the establishment. If the suspension is issued for a correctable
violation, said suspension shall be terminated upon verification by
inspection that the correction has been made, which shall be determined
no later than three business days after receipt of written notice
of correction from the licensee to the Chief of Police.
B.
The Chief of Police or his authorized representative shall revoke
any license where any of the following occurs:
(1)
It is discovered that false or misleading information or data was
given on any application or material facts were omitted from any application
for licensure.
(2)
Any costs or fee required to be paid by this chapter is not paid
or is paid with a bank check drawn on an account with insufficient
funds and returned to the Town.
(5)
The licensee has one or more uncorrected violations of this chapter
pending for over 60 days.
(6)
Failure of licensee to correct any violation within 30 days for which licensee's license was suspended pursuant to § 162-8.
(7)
The license or any interest therein is transferred in any way.
C.
Once revoked, no license shall issue for the same licensee for five
years.
If the Chief of Police or his authorized representative denies
the issuance of a license or suspends or revokes a license he shall,
within 10 days of his decision, send to the applicant or operator
at the address listed on the application by certified mail, return
receipt requested, written notice of a decision, and further shall
specifically state the evidence presented, the reason for the decision
and the right to an appeal. The aggrieved party may appeal the decision
of the Chief of Police to the Board of Selectmen within 30 days of
receipt of the notice by filing a written application to the Town
Clerk requesting a hearing before the Board of Selectmen. At the hearing,
the applicant/licensee shall have the opportunity to present evidence
bearing upon the question. If the applicant/licensee makes application
for a hearing, a hearing shall be scheduled within 30 days of the
notice of appeal. The Board must render a decision within 45 days
of the receipt of the appeal. Within five days after such hearing,
the Board of Selectmen shall issue written notice of a final decision
and issue any license or renewal of license where applicable. All
operations of the adult-oriented establishment shall be maintained
pending the final decision being issued by the Board of Selectmen.
Any denial, nonrenewal, suspension or revocation of a license that
is sustained in a written decision after hearing, as provided for
above, shall be appealable to the Superior Court within 15 days of
written notice thereof by any person aggrieved in accordance with
the procedure established for zoning appeals by C.G.S. § 8-8,
as amended. Any denial of renewal, suspension or revocation shall
be stayed during the appeal unless otherwise ordered by the Superior
Court.
A.
Every person, partnership or corporation, whether acting as an individual
owner, operator, licensee or employee of an adult-oriented establishment,
who operates, maintains or conducts an adult-oriented establishment
without first obtaining a license and paying the applicable fee to
the Town, or who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, shall
be fined a definite sum not exceeding $250 for each such violation
and be subject to criminal prosecution under the laws of the State
of Connecticut.
B.
Each violation of this chapter shall be considered a separate offense
and any violation continuing more than one day shall be considered
a separate offense for each day the violation continues.
C.
This chapter shall not preclude any additional enforcement action
taken by any appropriate municipal, state or federal official conducted
pursuant to any applicable ordinance, regulation and/or law of the
Town of Winchester and/or the State of Connecticut and/or the United
States of America.
In addition to any fines or penalties imposed herein, this chapter
may be enforced by injunctive relief in the Superior Court.
Should any court of competent jurisdiction declare any section
or clause or provision of this chapter to be unconstitutional, such
decision shall affect only such section, clause or provision so declared
unconstitutional and shall not affect any other section, clause or
provision of this chapter.
In construing this chapter, masculine or neuter pronouns shall
be substituted for those of feminine form and vice versa and the plural
of the singular and the singular of the plural shall be substituted
in any case in which the context may require.
