A.
Purpose. The purpose of requiring standards for adult entertainment businesses is to mitigate the adverse secondary effects caused by such businesses, to maintain compatibility with other land uses and services permitted within the city, and to promote the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city.
B.
Findings.
1.
Regulation of the adult entertainment industry is necessary because in the absence of such regulation, significant criminal activity has historically and regularly occurred in and around such businesses. This history of criminal activity in the adult entertainment industry has included prostitution, illegal employment of minors, narcotics trafficking and use, alcoholic beverage law violations, breaches of the peace, tax evasion, and the presence within the industry of individuals with hidden ownership interests, outstanding arrest warrants, and past criminal behavior related to the adult entertainment industry which may be indicative of intended future conduct;
2.
There is convincing evidence in the form of studies, court cases, and police records reviewed and considered by the city, on file with the city clerk, that adult entertainment businesses have a deleterious effect on both existing businesses around them and surrounding residential areas or other sensitive uses adjacent to them, causing increased crime, harm to minors, diminishing the quality of residential life, and reducing property values;
3.
The activities defined and regulated in this chapter have been shown to produce secondary effects which are detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the city, and, therefore, such activities must be regulated;
4.
Adult entertainment businesses have serious objectionable operational characteristics, particularly when they are located in close proximity to each other and other sensitive uses, thereby contributing to urban blight and devaluating the quality of life in adjacent areas;
5.
Close physical proximity between entertainers and patrons during adult entertainment performances facilitates sexual contact, prostitution, and related crimes. Concerns about crime and public sexual activity are legitimate and compelling concerns of the city, which require reasonable regulation of adult entertainment establishments in order to protect the public health, safety, and general welfare of its citizens;
6.
In the absence of regulation, the criminal activities described in subsections (B)(1) and (5) of this section occur whether or not the sale of alcoholic beverages takes place in conjunction with adult entertainment activities;
7.
It is necessary to license adult entertainment premises to identity the location and nature of activities to take place on such premises, to identify the operators of each such business, and to provide for the regulations of such premises;
8.
It is necessary to license managers in the adult entertainment industry, and to have a licensed manager on the premises of adult entertainment premises, so there will at all necessary times be an identifiable individual responsible for the overall operation of the adult entertainment establishment, including responsibility for the actions of entertainers, other employees, and patrons;
9.
It is necessary to license entertainers in the adult entertainment industry to prevent the exploitation of minors, to ensure that each entertainer is an adult, and to ensure that such entertainers have not assumed a false name, which would make regulation of the entertainer difficult or impossible; and
10.
The license fees required in this chapter are necessary as nominal fees imposed as necessary regulatory measures designed to partially defray the substantial expenses incurred by the city in regulating the adult entertainment industry.
C.
Intent.
1.
The city council desires to minimize and control these adverse secondary effects of adult entertainment businesses and thereby protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizenry; protect the citizens from increased crime; protect minors from exposure to inappropriate content; preserve the property values and character of surrounding neighborhoods and deter the spread of urban blight;
2.
It is not the intent of this chapter to suppress any speech activities protected by the first amendment, but to enact a content neutral ordinance which addresses the secondary effects of adult entertainment businesses through time, place, and manner regulations; and
3.
It is not the intent of the city council to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material, and the city council recognizes that state and federal law prohibits the distribution of obscene materials and expects and encourages law enforcement officials to enforce obscenity statutes against such illegal activities in the city.
D.
Scope. The standards established in this chapter apply to all adult entertainment businesses and include, but are not limited to, the following: adult panorams, adult cabarets, adult motels, adult motion picture theaters, and adult retail establishments.
(Ord. 2094 § 1 (part), 2002)