This chapter shall be entitled "Adult Entertainment Facility Zoning."
(Ord. 1591 § 352, 2014)
(1) 
The City Council is committed to protecting the general welfare of the City through the enforcement of laws prohibiting obscenity, indecency, and sexual offenses while preserving constitutionally protected forms of expression.
(2) 
The City has made a detailed review of the national record, including studies from the cities of New York, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles, the police records of various cities, and court decisions regarding adult entertainment uses, including adult retail establishments. The City Council finds that adult entertainment uses, including adult retail establishments, require special supervision from public safety agencies in order to protect and preserve the health, safety, and welfare of the patrons and employees of said business as well as the citizens of the City.
(3) 
The City Council finds that concerns about crime and public sexual activity generated and/or occurring within or near adult entertainment and adult retail establishments are legitimate, substantial and compelling concerns of the City which demand reasonable regulation.
(4) 
The City Council finds that adult entertainment and adult retail establishments, due to their nature, have secondary adverse impacts upon the health, safety, and welfare of the citizenry through increases in crime and opportunity for spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
(5) 
There is convincing documented evidence that adult entertainment and adult retail establishments have a detrimental effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, causing increased crime, the downgrading of quality of life and property values and the spread of urban blight. Reasonable regulation of the location of these facilities will provide for the protection of the community, protect residents, patrons, and employees from the adverse secondary effects of such facilities.
(6) 
The City recognizes that adult entertainment and adult retail establishments, due to their very nature, have serious objectionable operational characteristics, particularly when located in close proximity to residential neighborhoods, day care centers, religious facilities, public parks, schools, and public facilities open to families, such as post offices and medical clinics, and thereby having a deleterious impact upon the quality of life in the surrounding areas. It has been acknowledged by courts and communities across the nation that state and local governmental entities have a special concern in regulating the operation of such businesses under their jurisdiction to ensure the adverse secondary effects of the establishments are minimized.
(7) 
This chapter is intended to protect the general public health, safety, and welfare of the citizenry of the City through the regulation of the location of adult entertainment and adult retail establishments. The regulations set forth herein are intended to control health, safety, and welfare issues, the decline in neighborhood conditions in and around adult entertainment and adult retail establishments, and to isolate dangerous and unlawful conduct associated with these facilities.
(8) 
It is not the intent of this chapter to suppress any speech activities protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Article 1, Section 5 of the Washington State Constitution, but to enact content-neutral legislation which addresses the negative secondary impacts of adult entertainment and adult retail establishments.
(9) 
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.
(10) 
The City Council, at its duly advertised public hearing on September 13, 2001, considered the subject matter of adult entertainment and adult retail establishments, at which public hearing the City Council received comments from the public on that subject matter, which the City Council believes to be true, and which, together with the findings heretofore set forth, form the basis for the adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter.
(Ord. 1591 § 353, 2014)
Adult entertainment facilities, as defined in this Title, shall only be permitted within the PR-C Zone south of South 216th Street:
(1) 
So long as such uses are located within a building that fronts Pacific Highway South and obtains its access exclusively from such highway; and
(2) 
So long as such uses are located no less than 1,000 feet from the property lines of churches, common schools, day care centers, and public facilities, and 1,000 feet from any other adult entertainment or adult retail use. As used herein, the distances shall mean the straight-line distance between the edge or corner of the property on which the adult retail use is located to the nearest edge or corner of the property of the disqualifying site.
(Ord. 1591 § 354, 2014; Ord. 1644 § 1, 2016)
Any adult entertainment, activity, use, or retail use located within the City limits on the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section that is made nonconforming by this chapter shall be terminated within one year; provided, however, that such termination date may be extended upon the approval of an application filed with the City within 120 days of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section requesting an extension of such one-year amortization period. The decision on whether or not to approve any extension period and the length of such period shall be based upon the applicant clearly demonstrating extreme economic hardship based upon an irreversible financial investment or commitment made prior to the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section, which precludes reasonable alternative uses of the subject property.
(Ord. 1591 § 355, 2014)
In the event of a conflict between this chapter and any other provision of this code, this chapter applies and supersedes.
(Ord. 1591 § 356, 2014)