[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Selectmen
of the Town of Cromwell 6-14-1995. Amendments noted where applicable.]
CHARTER REVISION
Effective with the general election held in November 2013, the
Town changed to a Town Council/Town Manager form of government. According
to Charter § 11.04, any references in Town ordinances to
the "First Selectman" or to the "Board of Selectmen" shall now be
deemed to refer to the "Town Manager" or the "Town Council," as appropriate.
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 236.
[Amended TC 6-16-2014]
The Town Council of the Town of Cromwell, Connecticut,
finds:
A.
There are or may in the future be adult-oriented establishments
located in the Town of Cromwell which 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 videotapes and/or live entertainment.
(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.
(3)
Such closed booths, cubicles, studios and rooms have
been used by patrons, clients or customers of such adult-oriented
establishments for the purpose of engaging in certain sexual acts.
(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.
(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 or others,
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.
(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.
(7)
The nature of adult-oriented establishments and the
traffic which they generate and the potential and the propensity for
such establishments to attract persons interested in explicit sexual
activities or erotic art forms and the potential for outdoor assembly
of such persons around the premises of such establishments are such
as to make them incompatible with nearby uses of land where concentrations
of children or youth tend to congregate.
C.
The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments, including without limitations those specifically cited in Subsection A hereof, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of Cromwell.
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 Council, 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 Council to impose any additional limitations or restrictions
on the contents or 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/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.
[Amended TC 6-16-2014]
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
and specified anatomical areas, as defined below, for observation
by patrons therein.
An establishment having any portion of its stock and trade
in books, films, videocassettes 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, 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.
Any exhibition of any adult-oriented motion pictures, live
performance, display or dance of any type, removal of articles of
clothing or appearing unclothed, pantomime, modeling or any other
personal services offered to customers, which has as a significant
or substantial portion of such performance or any actual or simulated
performance of specified sexual activities or exhibition and viewing
of specified anatomical areas.
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 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-oriented
motion pictures, or any premises 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. 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 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.[1]
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 an independent contractor.
An officer of the Cromwell Police Department and/or an employee
of the Town of Cromwell designated by the Town Manager with approval
by the Town Council, who shall hereby be authorized to inspect premises
regulated under this chapter and to take the required actions authorized
by this chapter in case of violations being found on such premises
and to require corrections of unsatisfactory conditions found on said
premises.
[Amended TC 6-16-2014]
A person under the age of 18 years.
Any person or any proprietor, shareholder, general partner
or limited partner who holds any share or partnership interest of
any business which is operating, conducting, owning or maintaining
an adult-oriented establishment.
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 denote at least 25% of the
lineage of each issue to articles and advertisements dealing with
subjects or art or photograph, nor does this definition apply to 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, 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.
The Town Council of the Town of Cromwell, Connecticut.
[Added TC 6-16-2014]
[1]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "Board of Selectmen,"
which immediately followed, was repealed TC 6-16-2014. See now the
definition of "Town Council."
A.
No operator or employee of an adult-oriented establishment
shall allow or permit any minor or intoxicated person 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.
Every 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 in conformance with all applicable zoning, building and
health regulations on or after July 23, 1995, 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. It shall be
unlawful to install enclosed booths, cubicles, 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.
E.
On or after July 23, 1995, 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 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 at 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 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 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 a Cromwell inspector or such
other person(s) as the Town Council may designate. Information regarding
employees, including name, date of birth and social security number,
must be maintained as part of the record and must be available for
inspection by Town officials.
[Amended TC 6-16-2014]
Any public entrance or exit to an adult-oriented
establishment shall be located no less than 500 feet from any of the
following uses if any such uses are existing at the time when the
adult-oriented establishment is established: any public or private
school serving grade 12 or lower; any day-care center, nursery school
or similar use; any public park or playground; any playground associated
with a church or other community building; any residential zone. Measurements
of distances shall be from any public entrance or exit into or out
of that building housing an adult-oriented establishment or, if only
a portion of the building is so used, any public entrance or exit
into or out of any portion of the building housing such adult-oriented
establishment to any part of a parcel of land containing the land
uses set forth in the first sentence of this section or any parcel
being residentially zoned. The separating distance required by this
section shall be determined as of the date that any adult-oriented
establishment commences to operate in accordance with this chapter
and any applicable provision(s) of the Cromwell Zoning Regulations,
Building Code, Health Code[1] and other applicable state and local laws, and such adult-oriented
establishment shall not be deemed to violate this section if thereafter
one of the enumerated uses is established within the distance set
forth herein.
No adult-oriented establishments shall be permitted
in a building or portion of a building in which any public entrance
or exit is less than 1,000 feet from any public entrance or exit of
a building or portion of a building used for an existing adult-oriented
establishment. Measurements of distances shall be from any public
entrance or exit into or out of that building housing an adult-oriented
establishment or, if only a portion of the building is so used, any
public entrance or exit into or out of any portion of the building
housing such adult-oriented establishment to any such public entrance
or exit for any existing adult-oriented establishment.
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.
