Town of Old Saybrook, CT Chapter 70 Adult-Oriented Businesses

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Meeting of the Town of Old Saybrook 6-17-1993 by Ord. No. 72. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Adult entertainment businesses as special exception — See Ch. 303, § 303-27.

§ 70-1 Title.

This chapter shall be known as the "Adult-Oriented Business Ordinance for the Town of Old Saybrook."

§ 70-2 Policy statement.

The Town Meeting of the Town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut finds:

A. Adult-oriented establishments located in the Town of Old Saybrook require special supervision from the Town's public safety agencies in order to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the patrons of such establishments, as well as the health, safety and welfare of the Town's citizens.

B. Statistics and studies performed by a substantial number of cities and towns in the United States indicate that:

(1) Large numbers of persons, primarily male, frequent such adult-oriented establishments, especially those which provide closed booths, cubicles, studies and rooms for the private viewing of so-called adult motion pictures and/or video tapes and/or live entertainment; and

(2) Persons under the age of 18 may be attracted to adult-oriented establishments and seek to enter or loiter about them without the knowledge or permission of their parents or guardians; and

(3) Closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms within adult-oriented establishments have been used by patrons, clients and customers of such adult-oriented establishments for the purpose of engaging in certain sexual acts; and

(4) 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 and rooms; and

(5) Doors, curtains, blinds and/or other closures installed in 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 using such booths, cubicles, studios and rooms to engage in sexual acts therein with prostitutes, thereby promoting and encouraging prostitution and the commission of sexual acts which cause blood, semen and urine 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

(6) The reasonable regulation and supervision of such adult-oriented establishments tends to discourage such sexual acts and prostitution, and thereby promotes the health, safety and welfare of the patrons, clients and customers of such establishments.

C. The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments including, without limitation, those specifically cited at Subsection B(1) hereof, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of Old Saybrook.

D. 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.

E. It is not the intent of the Town Meeting, in enacting this chapter, to deny to any person rights to speech protected by the United States and/or State Constitutions, nor is it the intent of the Town Meeting 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 Meeting 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/or State 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.

§ 70-3 Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, the words and phrases used herein shall have the following meanings, unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context:

ADULT AMUSEMENT MACHINE

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.

ADULT BOOKSTORE

An establishment having any portion of its stock-in-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, provided that this definition shall not apply to any establishment in which such materials constitute less than 10% of the value of the inventory of said establishment and in which the display of such materials does not permit the viewing of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas within the establishment.

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT

Any exhibition of any motion pictures, videotapes, live performances, displays or dances of any type, which have as a significant or substantial portion of such performances any actual or simulated performance of specified sexual activities or exhibition and viewing of specified anatomical areas.

ADULT MINI MOTION-PICTURE THEATER

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 for observation by patrons therein.

ADULT MOTION-PICTURE THEATER

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.

ADULT-ORIENTED ESTABLISHMENT

Includes, without limitation, adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters, adult mini motion-picture theaters, and commercial establishments containing one or more adult amusement machines. "Adult-oriented establishment" further means any premises to which the public, patrons or members are invited or admitted and which 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 entertainment, when such establishment is operated or maintained for a profit, direct or indirect.

AMUSEMENT MACHINE

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.

EMPLOYEE

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.

ENTERTAINER

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 an independent contractor.

INSPECTOR

An employee of the Director of Public Health, the Zoning Enforcement Officer, the Building Inspector, any officer of the Police Department, the Fire Marshal, and any person to whom any of those officials or the Board of Selectmen may delegate the duty to perform functions under this chapter.

MINOR

Refers to a person under the age of 18 years.

OPERATOR

Any person, partnership or corporation operating, conducting or maintaining an adult-oriented establishment.

SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS

A. Less than completely and opaquely covered:

(1) Human genitals and pubic region;

(2) Buttocks;

(3) Female breasts below a point immediately above the top of the areola; and

B. Human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely opaquely covered.

SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES

A. Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal;

B. Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy;

C. Fondling or erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breasts.

SEXUAL ANATOMICAL AREAS AND SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES

Does not include materials depicted in any medical publications or films, in any bona fide educational publications or films, in any art or photography publications which devote at least 25% of the lineage of each issue to articles and advertisements dealing with subjects of art or photography, in any news periodical which reports or describes current events and which, from time to time, publishes photographs of nude or seminude persons in connection with the dissemination of the news, or in publications or films which describe and report different cultures 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.

TOWN MEETING

The Town Meeting of the Town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut.

§ 70-4 Operating requirements.

A. No operator or employee of an adult-oriented establishment shall allow or permit any minor to enter into such establishment or to loiter upon the grounds and parking lot of such establishment.

B. Each adult-oriented establishment shall display a sign outside each entrance bearing the words "Adult-oriented establishment - Persons under 18 not admitted" in letters two inches high.

C. No adult-oriented establishment shall be conducted in such a manner that permits the observation of any material depicting specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas from the outside of the building that houses the adult-oriented establishment.

D. 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, wherein 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. After the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful to install enclosed booths, cubicles, rooms or stalls within adult-oriented establishments for the purpose of viewing adult entertainment.

E. On and after the effective date of this chapter, 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 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 at an illumination of not less than 1.0 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.

F. 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 the authorization, knowledge or approval of the operator, or as a result of the operator's negligent failure to supervise the employee's conduct, 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.

G. 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.

H. All adult-oriented establishments shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by inspectors or such other persons as the Town Meeting may designate.

I. No adult-oriented establishment shall be permitted on a site that is less than 500 feet from an area zoned residential. The 500 feet shall be the straight horizontal distance from any part of a building housing an adult-oriented establishment to any boundary of a zoning district that is zoned for residential use.

J. No adult-oriented establishment shall be permitted on a site that is less that 1,000 feet from an existing adult-oriented establishment. The 1,000 feet shall be the straight horizontal distance from any part of a building housing an adult-oriented establishment to any part of the other building housing an adult-oriented establishment.

K. No adult-oriented establishment shall be permitted on a site that is less than 1,000 feet from a preexisting school or place of worship. The 1,000 feet shall be the straight horizontal distance from any part of the building housing an adult-oriented establishment to any part of a building housing a school or place of worship.

L. The provisions of Subsections I, J and K 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 and shall thereafter conform to I, J and K.

§ 70-5 Penalties for offenses.

A. Any person, partnership or corporation who is found to have violated this chapter shall be fined a definite sum not exceeding $100 for each such violation.

B. 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.