[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Directors of the Town
of Manchester as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted as Secs. 9-190 to 9-195 of the 1996 Code]
Adult entertainment businesses are prohibited within:
The distances provided in this chapter shall be measured by following
a straight line, without regard to intervening buildings, from the nearest
point of the property parcel upon which the adult entertainment business is
to be located to the nearest point of the parcel of property from which the
adult entertainment business is to be separated.
Words and terms used in this article shall have the following meanings:
A public establishment which features topless or bottomless dancers,
nude dancers, or strippers, either male or female, or persons or employees
appearing in a topless or bottomless or nude state.
Exposition to the public view of any portion of the pubic hair, anus
cleft of the buttocks, vulva or genitals.
A facility in which care is provided for more than 12 related or
unrelated children outside their own homes on a regular basis for part of
the 24 hours in one or more days of the week.
The showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks
with less than a fully opaque covering or the showing of covered male genitals
in a discernibly turgid state.
Includes:
Any public or private preschool, elementary school, junior high school
or high school.
The showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering,
below a point immediately above the top of the areola.
A.
Any person, partnership, limited liability company, or
corporation or other entity who is found to have violated this article shall
be fined $100 for each such violation.
B.
Each violation of this article shall be considered a
separate offense. A violation shall be construed as each incident in which
a person appears nude, topless or bottomless.
C.
This Town may also maintain an action or special proceeding
for an injunction or other equitable relief to compel compliance with, or
to restrain the violation of, this article. The use of any remedy shall not
prevent the use of any other remedy hereunder. The listing of remedies herein
shall not deprive the Town of the use of any other remedies provided by other
provisions of law.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to condone, sponsor or authorize
any adult entertainment business which is not allowed under the zoning regulations
of the Town.
[Adopted 4-2-1996 (Secs. 9-210
to 9-214 of the 1996 Code)]
A.
The Board of Directors of the Town of Manchester, Connecticut,
finds:
(1)
There are adult-oriented establishments located in the
Town of Manchester which require special supervision from the Towns 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.
(2)
Statistics and studies performed by a substantial number
of cities and towns in the United States indicate that:
(a)
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; and
(b)
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; and
(c)
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
(d)
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 and/or with other members of
the same sex, 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
(e)
The 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.
(3)
The continued unregulated operation of adult-oriented establishments, including, without limitation, those specifically cited at Subsection A(1) hereof, is and would be detrimental to the general welfare, health and safety of the citizens of Manchester.
(4)
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.
B.
It is not the intent of the Board of Directors, in enacting
this article, to deny any person rights to speech protected by the United
States and/or State Constitutions, nor is it the intent of the Board of Directors
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 article, the Board of Directors 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.
For the purpose of this article, the words and phrases used herein shall
have the following meanings, unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context:
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 in conjunction therewith has facilities for the
presentation of adult entertainment, as defined below, and including adult-oriented
films, movies or live entertainment, for observation by patrons therein.
Any exhibition of any adult-oriented motion picture, 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 person services offered customers.
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.
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.
Includes, without limitation, adult bookstores, adult motion-picture
theaters, adult mini motion-picture theaters and 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, studies,
compartments, or stalls separate from the common areas of the premises for
the purpose of viewing adult-oriented motion pictures, or 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.
The Board of Directors of the Town of Manchester, Connecticut.
The Director of Health of the Town of Manchester.
Any and all persons, including independent contractors, who work
in or at or render any services directly related to the operation of any 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 employee of the Manchester Public Health Department authorized
and designated by the Director of Health, or an employee of the Health Department,
authorized and designated by the Director of said Department, or an employee
of the Manchester Fire Department, authorized by the Fire Marshal, to inspect
premises regulated under this article and to take the required actions authorized
by this article 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.
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 at least 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 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.
A.
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.
Every adult-oriented establishment doing business in
the Town on and after October 1, 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.
C.
On and after May 1, 1996, 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 and 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.
D.
Every act or omission by any employee constituting a
violation of the provisions of this article 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.
E.
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 article 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 article.
F.
All adult-oriented establishments shall be open to inspection
at all reasonable times by the Manchester Police Department, inspectors employed
by the Town, or such others persons as the Board of Directors may designate.
A.
Any person, partnership or corporation who is found to
have violated this article shall be fined a definite sum not exceeding $100
for each such violation.
B.
Each violation of this article 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.
