(a) It
is the purpose of this article to:
(1) Regulate sexually oriented businesses in order to promote the health,
safety, morals and welfare of the citizens of the city;
(2) Establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious
location and concentration of sexually oriented businesses within
the city.
(b) It
is not the purpose of this article to:
(1) Impose a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative
materials, including sexually oriented materials;
(2) Restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials
protected by the First Amendment;
(3) Deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented
entertainment to their intended market;
(4) Condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.
(Ordinance 100601-1 adopted 6/1/10)
As used in this article:
Adult arcade.
Any place to which the public is permitted or invited, wherein
coin-operated or slug-operated or electronically, electrical, or mechanically
controlled still or motion picture machines, projectors, or other
image producing devices are regularly maintained to show images to
five (5) or fewer persons per machine at any one time, and where the
images so displayed are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis
upon matters exhibiting specified sexual activities or specified anatomical
areas.
Adult bookstore, adult novelty store or adult video store.
A commercial establishment which has a significant or substantial
portion of its stock-in-trade, or derives significant or substantial
portion of its revenues or devotes a significant or substantial portion
of its interior business or advertising, or maintains a substantial
section of its sales display space for the sale or rental, for any
form of consideration, of any of one or more of the following:
(1)
Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter, or photographs,
films, motion pictures, videocassettes, compact discs, slides, video
reproductions, or other visual representations, which are characterized
by their emphasis upon the exhibition or display of specified sexual
activities or specified anatomical areas;
(2)
Instruments, devices, or paraphernalia which are designed for
use or marketed primarily for stimulation of human genitals or for
sadomasochistic use or abuse of the user or others. This does not
include items used for birth control or for prevention of sexually
transmitted diseases.
Adult cabaret.
A nightclub, bar, restaurant, or similar commercial establishment
which regularly features:
(1)
Persons who appear nude or semi-nude; or
(2)
Live performances which are characterized by the exposure of
specified anatomical areas or by specified sexual activities; or
(3)
Films, motion pictures, videocassettes, DVDs, slides or other
photographic reproductions which are characterized by the exhibition
or display of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical
areas.
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 transmission, films,
motion pictures, videocassettes, DVDs, slides, or other photographic
reproductions which are characterized by the exhibition or display
of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas; and
has a sign visible from the public right-of-way which advertises the
availability of this adult type of photographic reproductions; and
either:
(A)
Offers a sleeping room for rent for a time period of less than
ten (10) hours; or
(B)
Allows a tenant or occupant of a sleeping room to sub-rent the
room for a period of time that is less than ten (10) hours.
(2)
Evidence that a sleeping room in a hotel, motel, or similar
commercial establishment has been rented and vacated two (2) or more
times in a period of time that is less than ten (10) hours creates
a rebuttable presumption that the business is an adult motel.
Adult motion picture theater.
A commercial establishment where, for any form of consideration,
films, motion pictures, videocassettes, DVDs, slides, or similar photographic
reproductions are regularly shown which are characterized by the depicting
or description of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical
areas.
Adult theater.
A theater, concert hall, auditorium, or similar commercial
establishment which regularly features persons who appear nude or
semi-nude, or live performances which are characterized by the exposure
of specified anatomical areas or by specified sexual activities.
Child day care.
A facility licensed by the state in accordance with 40 T.A.C.
§745.33.
Church.
A church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or building which is
used primarily for religious worship and related religious activities.
Customer.
Any person who:
(1)
Is allowed to enter an adult establishment in return for the
payment of an admission fee or any other form of consideration or
gratuity;
(2)
Enters a sexually oriented business and purchases, views, rents
or otherwise partakes of any merchandise, goods, entertainment or
other services offered therein; or
(3)
Is a member of and on the premises of a sexually oriented business
operating as a private club.
Employee, employ, and employment.
Describe and pertain to any person who performs any service
on the premises of a sexually oriented business on a full-time, part-time,
or contract basis, regardless of whether the person is designated
as an employee, independent contractor, agent, or by another status.
Employee does not include a person exclusively on the premises for
repair or maintenance of the premises, or for the delivery of goods
to the premises.
Escort.
A person who, for consideration, and for another person,
agrees or offers:
(1)
To act as a companion, guide, or date;
(2)
To privately model lingerie; or
(3)
To privately perform a striptease.
Escort agency.
A person or business association that for a fee, tip, or
other consideration, furnishes, offers to furnish, or advertises to
furnish, escorts as one of its primary business purposes.
Establish or establishment.
Any of the following:
(1)
The opening or commencement of any sexually oriented business
as a new business;
(2)
The conversion of an existing business, whether or not a sexually
oriented business, to any sexually oriented business;
(3)
The addition of any sexually oriented business to any other
existing sexually oriented business; or
(4)
The relocation of any sexually oriented business.
Licensee.
A person in whose name a license to operate a sexually oriented
business has been issued, as well as the individual listed as an applicant
on the application for a license; and in the case of an employee,
a person in whose name a license has been issued authorizing employment
in a sexually oriented business.
Nude, nudity or a state of nudity.
The showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area,
vulva, anus, or anal cleft with less than a fully opaque covering,
the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering
of any part of the nipple, or the showing of the covered male genitals
in a discernibly turgid state.
Operator.
Any person on the premises of a sexually oriented business
who is authorized to exercise operational control of the business,
or who causes to function or who puts or keeps in operation, the business.
A person may be found to be operating or causing to be operated a
sexually oriented business regardless of whether that person is an
owner, part owner, or licensee of the business.
Person.
An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation,
association, or other legal entity.
Principal business or primary business.
(1)
Thirty-five percent or more of the gross floor area is devoted
to the sale, display, or inventory of items which depict or describe
specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas or which
are designed for use in connection with specified sexual activities;
or
(2)
Thirty-five percent or more of the gross receipts are derived from the sale or rental of items described in subsection
(1).
Regularly features or regularly shown.
A consistent or substantial course of conduct, such that
the films or performances exhibited constitute a substantial portion
of the films or performances offered as a part of the ongoing business
of the sexually oriented business.
Residential use.
A single-family, townhouse, duplex, mobile home, or multiple-family
use as defined in the zoning ordinance of the city.
School.
Any public or private educational facility including, but
not limited to, child day care facilities, nursery schools, preschools,
kindergartens, elementary schools, private schools, intermediate schools,
junior high schools, middle schools, high schools, vocational schools,
secondary schools, special education schools, junior colleges and
universities. This definition includes any building used for home
schools. School includes the school grounds, but does not include
facilities used primarily for another purpose and only incidentally
as a school.
Semi-nude model studio.
A commercial establishment which regularly features a person
(or persons) who appears semi-nude and is provided to be observed,
sketched, drawn, painted, sculptured or photographed by other persons
who pay money or any form of consideration, but shall not include
a proprietary school licensed by the state or a college, junior college,
or university which maintains and operates educational programs in
which credits are transferable to a college, junior college, or university
supported entirely or partly by taxation.
Semi-nude or in a semi-nude condition.
The showing of the female breast below a horizontal line
across the top of the areola at its highest point, or the showing
of the male or female buttocks. This definition includes the lower
portion of the human female breast, but shall not include any portion
of the cleavage of the human female breast, exhibited by a dress,
blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel, provided
the areola is not exposed in whole or in part.
Sexual encounter center.
A business or commercial establishment that as one of its
principal business purposes, or offers for any form of consideration,
a place where two (2) or more persons may congregate, associate, or
consort for the purpose of specified sexual activities. The definition
of sexual encounter center or any sexually oriented business shall
not include an establishment where a medical practitioner, psychologist,
psychiatrist, or similar professional person licensed by the state
engages in medically approved and recognized sexual therapy.
Sexually oriented business.
An adult arcade, adult bookstore, adult novelty store, adult
video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theatre,
adult theater, escort agency, semi-nude model studio, or sexual encounter
center.
Specified ananatomical areas.
(1)
The human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even
if completely and opaquely covered; or
(2)
Less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, pubic
region, buttocks, or a female breast below a point immediately above
the top of the areola.
Specified criminal activity.
Any of the following offenses:
(1)
Prostitution or promotion of prostitution; dissemination of
obscenity; sale, distribution, or display of harmful material to a
minor; sexual performance by a child; possession or distribution of
child pornography; public lewdness; indecent exposure; indecency with
a child; engaging in organized criminal activity relating to sexually
oriented business; sexual assault; molestation of a child; distribution
of a controlled substance; or any similar offense to those described
above under the criminal penal code of other states or countries;
(2)
For which:
(A)
Less than two (2) years have elapsed since the date of conviction
or the date of release from confinement imposed for the conviction,
whichever is the later date, if the conviction is of a misdemeanor
offense;
(B)
Less than five (5) years have elapsed since the date of conviction
or the date of release from confinement for the conviction, whichever
is the later date, if the conviction is of a felony offense; or
(C)
Less than five (5) years have elapsed since the date of the
last conviction or the date or release from confinement for the last
conviction, whichever is the later date, if the convictions are of
two (2) or more misdemeanor offenses or a combination of misdemeanor
offenses occurring within a twenty-four-month period.
(3)
The fact that a conviction is being appealed shall have no effect
on the disqualification of the applicant or a person residing with
the applicant.
Specified sexual activities.
Any of the following:
(1)
The fondling of another person’s genitals, pubic region,
anus, or female breasts;
(2)
Sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including
intercourse, oral copulation, masturbation, or sodomy; or
(3)
Excretory functions as part of, or in connection with, any of the activities set forth in subsections
(1) and
(2) above.
Tanning salon.
A commercial establishment where a person appearing in a
state of nudity or displaying specified anatomical areas engages in
activities related to sunbathing or tanning within the view of customers.
This does not include the use of opaque tanning devices, which are
not visible to other customers or patrons of the establishment.
Transfer of ownership or control of a sexually oriented business.
Any of the following:
(1)
The sale, lease, or sublease of the business;
(2)
The transfer of securities which constitute a controlling interest
of the business, whether by the sale exchange, or similar means;
(3)
The establishment of a trust, gift, or other similar legal device
which transfers the ownership or control of the business, including
the transfer by bequest or another operation of law upon the death
of the person possessing the ownership or control.
(Ordinance 100601-1 adopted 6/1/10)
The city council classifies sexually oriented businesses as
the following:
(2) Adult
bookstores, adult novelty stores, or adult video stores;
(5) Adult
motion picture theatres;
(9) Sexual
encounter center; and
(Ordinance 100601-1 adopted 6/1/10)
(a) Class A misdemeanor.
Any person, firm, corporation,
agent or employee thereof who violates any provisions of this article
shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor under the Texas Penal Code
if the violation involved the location of a sexually oriented business;
the application, license, or permit of a sexually oriented business;
a sign/billboard requirement in the city’s sign/billboard ordinance;
or any regulation regarding inspection and fees as authorized by Texas
Local Government Code, chapter 243. Each day a sexually oriented business
operates in violation of any of the regulations listed above shall
constitute a separate offense.
(b) Class C misdemeanor.
Any person, firm, corporation,
agent or employee thereof who violates any of the other provisions
of this article not governed by Texas Local Government Code, chapter
243, shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor and upon conviction
thereof shall be fined an amount not to exceed two-thousand dollars
($2,000.00) for each offense. Each day that a violation is permitted
to exist shall constitute a separate offense.
(c) Injunction.
The city may sue in district court for an
injunction to prohibit a violation of a regulation of this article
that is authorized by Texas Local Government Code, chapter 243.
(Ordinance 100601-1 adopted 6/1/10)