[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Wethersfield 5-20-1996. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The statement of intent of this chapter shall
be to regulate adult-oriented establishments.
A.Â
The Town Council of the Town of Wethersfield, Connecticut,
finds that adult-oriented establishments in the Town of Wethersfield
require special supervision from the Town's public safety agencies
in order to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of
the Town's citizens.
B.Â
The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented
establishments is and would be detrimental to the general welfare,
health and safety of the citizens of Wethersfield and especially its
youth.
C.Â
The Constitution and 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 as hereinafter defined in order to protect the public
health, safety and welfare.
D.Â
It is not the intent of the Town Council in enacting
this chapter to deny to any person rights to speech protected by the
United States and Connecticut Constitutions, nor is it the intent
of the Council to impose any additional limitations or restrictions
on the contents of any communicative materials, including sexually
oriented films, videotapes, books and/or other materials. Further,
by enacting this chapter, the Town Council does not intend to deny
or restrict the rights of any adult to obtain and/or view any sexually
oriented materials protected by the United States and Connecticut
Constitutions, 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.
For the purpose of this chapter, the words and
phrases used herein shall have the following meanings, unless otherwise
clearly indicated by the context:
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 below, for observation by
patrons therein.
An establishment having a substantial or significant portion
of its stock and trade in books, films, video cassettes 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 below,
and including adult-oriented films, movies or live entertainment,
for observation by patrons therein.
Includes any exhibition of any adult-oriented motion pictures,
videos, 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, pantomime, modeling or any other
personal services offered customers.
An 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 relating to specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, as defined below,
for observation by patrons 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 below,
for observation by patrons therein.
Includes, without limitation, adult bookstores, adult motion-picture
theaters, adult video galleries, adult mini-motion-picture theaters,
and further means any premises to which the public, patrons or members
are invited or admitted and wherein an entertainer provides adult
entertainment to a member of the public, a patron or a member, when
such adult entertainment is held, conducted, operated or maintained
for a profit, direct or indirect, or which premises are so physically
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. 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 studio, rap studio,
exotic dance studio, encounter studio, sensitivity studio, modeling
studio or any other term of like import.
Includes any machine which, upon the payment of a charge
or upon the insertion of a coin, slug, token, plate or disk, may be
operated by the public for use as a game, entertainment or amusement,
whether or not registering a score and whether or not electronically
operated, and shall include but not be limited to such devices as
pinball machines, skill ball, mechanical grab machines, electronic
baseball, football, hockey or basketball machines, any and all air-propelled
machines or games, pool tables, shooting games, any and all video
games and all other games, operations similar thereto under whatever
name they may be indicated, including video-monitoring machines. This
definition shall not apply to those items generally described as jukeboxes
or billiard tables or pool tables in billiard or pool parlors solely
designated as such and permitted under the Zoning Ordinance.[1]
The Town Council of the Town of Wethersfield, Connecticut.
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 entertainment
is provided as an employee or independent contractor.
An employee of the Town of Wethersfield authorized and designated
by the Director of Health or the Zoning Enforcement Officer, or an
employee of the Wethersfield Building Division or a member of the
Wethersfield Police Division, or the Fire Marshal of the Town of Wethersfield,
or an agent of any or all of such persons who is designated to inspect
premises regulated under this chapter or any other ordinances, state
or federal laws in case of violations being found on such premises,
and to require corrections of unsatisfactory conditions found on said
premises.
Refers to a person under the age of 18 years.
Any person, partnership or corporation operating, conducting
or maintaining an adult-oriented establishment.
As used in this chapter, is not intended to include any medical
publications or films or bona fide educational publication or films,
nor does it include 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. Nor does this definition apply
to any news periodical which reports or describes current events and
which, from time to time, publishes photographs or nude or seminude
persons in connection with the dissemination of the news. Nor does
this definition apply to publications or films which describe and
report different cultures and which, from time to time, publish or
show photographs or depictions of nude or seminude persons when describing
cultures in which nudity or seminudity is indigenous to the population.
A.Â
No operator or employee of an adult-oriented establishment
shall allow or permit any minor to loiter in any part of such establishment,
including parking lots immediately adjacent to such establishment
used by patrons of such adult-oriented establishment.
B.Â
Every adult-oriented establishment doing business
in the Town, on 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, studios, rooms
or stalls, wherein adult entertainment is provided, shall be clearly
visible from the common areas of the premises. Visibility into such
booths, cubicles, studios, rooms or stalls shall not be blocked or
obscured by doors, curtains, partitions, drapes or any other obstruction
whatsoever. It shall be unlawful to install enclosed booths, cubicles,
studios, rooms or stalls within adult-oriented establishments for
whatever purpose but especially for the purpose of providing for the
secluded viewing of adult-oriented motion pictures or other types
of adult-oriented entertainment.
C.Â
The operator of each adult-oriented establishment
shall be responsible for and shall provide that any room or other
area used for the purpose of viewing adult-oriented motion pictures,
videos or other types of live adult 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 are permitted access in an 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 when any patron is present
in the premises.
D.Â
Every act or omission by an employee constituting
a violation of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed the
act or omission of the operator if such act or omission occurs either
with the authorization, knowledge or approval of the operator, or
as a result of the operator's negligent failure to supervise the employee's
conduct, including any act or omission, and the operator shall be
punishable for such act or omission in the same manner as if the operator
committed the act or caused the omission.
E.Â
An operator shall be responsible for the conduct of
all employees while on the licensed premises, and any act or omission
of any employee constituting a violation of the provisions of this
chapter shall be deemed the act or omission of the operator for purposes
of determining whether the operator shall be subject to the penalties
imposed by this chapter.
F.Â
All adult-oriented establishments shall be open to
inspection at all reasonable times by the Wethersfield Police Division,
inspectors employed by the Town and/or the Health District or such
other persons as the Town Council may designate.
G.Â
No adult-oriented establishments shall be permitted
on any site that is less than 1,000 feet from any school, church or
any area zoned residential.
H.Â
No adult-oriented establishment shall be permitted
on a site that is less than 1,000 feet from an existing adult-oriented
establishment.
I.Â
Said one-thousand-foot distance shall be measured
by taking the nearest straight line between the respective lot boundaries
of said sites.
J.Â
Any future adult-oriented establishments will be prohibited
from having any on-premises cubicles, booths or segregated areas for
the private viewing of adult-oriented entertainment, and no existing
adult-oriented establishment may create or increase the number of
such on-premises cubicles, booths or segregated areas for the private
viewing of adult-oriented entertainment.
A.Â
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which
is found to have violated this chapter shall be fined a definite sum
not exceeding $100 for each such violation.
B.Â
Each violation of this chapter shall be considered
a separate offense, and any violation continuing more than one hour
of time shall be considered a separate offense for each hour of violation.
Should any court of competent jurisdiction declare
any section, 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.
