It is the purpose of this chapter to regulate sexually oriented businesses,
to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens
of the City of Lockport; and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations
to prevent the continued deleterious location and concentration of sexually
oriented businesses with the City of Lockport. The provisions of this chapter
have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction
on the content of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented
materials. Similarly, it is not the intent nor effect of this chapter to restrict
or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First
Amendment or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually
oriented entertainment to their intended market. Neither is it the intent
nor effect of this chapter to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene
materials.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
ADULT ARCADE
Any place to which the public is permitted or invited wherein coin-operated
or slug-operated or electronically, electrically or mechanically controlled
still or motion-picture machines, projectors or other image-producing devices
are maintained to show images to five or fewer persons per machine at any
one time and where the images so displayed are distinguished or characterized
by the depicting or describing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical
areas.
ADULT BOOKSTORE OR ADULT VIDEO STORE
A.
A commercial establishment that is customarily not open to the public
generally but excludes any minor by reason of age and, as one of its principal
business purposes, offers for sale or rental for any form of consideration
any one or more of the following:
(1)
Books, magazines, periodicals or other printed matter or photographs,
films, motion pictures, video cassettes or video reproductions, slides or
other visual representations which depict or describe specified sexual activities
or specified anatomical areas; or
(2)
Instruments, devices or paraphernalia that are designed for use in connection
with specified sexual activities.
B.
A commercial establishment may have other principal business purposes
that do not involve the offering for sale or rental of material depicting
or describing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas and
still be categorized as adult bookstore or adult video store. Such other business
purposes will not serve to exempt such commercial establishments from being
categorized as an adult bookstore or adult video store so long as one of its
principal business purposes is the offering for sale or rental for consideration
the specified materials which depict or describe specified sexual activities
or specified anatomical areas. A principal business purpose need not be a
primary use of an establishment so long as it is a significant use based upon
the visible inventory or commercial activity of the establishment.
ADULT CABARET
A nightclub, bar, restaurant or similar commercial establishment
(i.e., juice bar or other business that does not serve alcoholic beverages)
that regularly features:
A.
Persons who appear in a state of seminudity;
B.
Live performances that are characterized by the exposure of specified
anatomical area or by specified sexual activities;
C.
Films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or other photographic
reproductions that are characterized by the depiction or description of specified
sexual activities or specified anatomical areas; or
D.
Persons who engage in lewd, lascivious or erotic dancing or performances
that are intended for the sexual interests or titillation of an audience or
customers.
ADULT MOTEL
A hotel, motel or similar commercial establishment which:
A.
Offers accommodations to the public for any form of consideration; provides
patrons with closed-circuit television transmissions, films, motion pictures,
video cassettes, slides or other photographic reproductions which are characterized
by the depiction or description of specified sexual activities or specified
anatomical areas; and has a sign visible from the public right-of-way which
advertises the availability of this adult type of photographic reproductions;
B.
Offers a sleeping room for rent for a period of time that is less than
10 hours; or
C.
Allows a tenant or occupant of a sleeping room to subrent the room for
a period of time that is less than 10 hours.
ADULT MOTION-PICTURE THEATER
A commercial establishment where, for any form of consideration,
films, motion pictures, video cassettes, slides or similar photographic reproductions
are regularly shown which are characterized by the depiction or description
of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.
ADULT THEATER
A theater, concert hall, auditorium or similar commercial establishment
which regularly features persons who appear in a state of nudity or live performances
which are characterized by the exposure of specified anatomical areas or specified
sexual activities.
DIRECTOR
The Chief of Police and such employee(s) of the Police Department
as he may designate to perform the duties of the director under this chapter
or any other official of the City of Lockport that the Common Council may
designate to perform said duties.
ESCORT
A person who, for consideration, agrees or offers to act as a companion,
guide or date for another person or who agrees or offers to privately model
lingerie or to privately perform a striptease for another person.
ESCORT AGENCY
A person or business association who furnishes, offers to furnish
or advertises to furnish escorts as one of its primary business purposes for
a fee, tip or other consideration.
ESTABLISHMENT
Includes any of the following:
A.
The opening or commencement of any sexually oriented business as a new
business;
B.
The conversion of an existing business, whether or not a sexually oriented
business, to any sexually oriented business;
C.
The additions of any sexually oriented business to any other existing
sexually oriented business; or
D.
The relocation of any sexually oriented business.
NUDE MODEL STUDIO
Any place where a person, who appears in a state of nudity or displays
specified anatomical areas, is provided to be observed, sketched, drawn, painted,
sculptured, photographed or similarly depicted by other persons who pay money
or any form of consideration.
NUDITY OR STATE OF NUDITY
The appearance of a human bare buttock, anus, male genitals, female
genitals or female breast without a fully opaque complete covering of the
breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola or human male
genitals in a discernibly turgid state even if completely and opaquely covered.
PERMITTEE AND/OR LICENSEE
A person in whose name a permit and/or license to operate a sexually
oriented business has been issued, as well as the individual listed as an
applicant on the application for a permit and/or license.
PERSON
An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association
or other legal entity.
SEMINUDE
A state of dress in which clothing covers no more than the human
bare buttock, anus, male genitals, female genitals or female breast without
a fully opaque complete covering of the breast below a point immediately above
the top of the areola or human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state
even if completely and opaquely covered.
SEXUAL ENCOUNTER CENTER
A business or commercial enterprise that, as one of its primary business
purposes, offers for any form of consideration:
A.
Physical contact in the form of wrestling or tumbling between persons
of the opposite sex; or
B.
Activities between male and female persons and/or persons of the same
sex when one or more of the persons is in a state of nudity or seminude.
SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESS
An adult arcade, adult bookstore or adult video store, adult cabaret,
adult motel, adult motion-picture theater, adult theater, escort agency, nude
model studio or sexual encounter center.
SPECIFIED ANATOMICAL AREAS
The male genitals in a state of sexual arousal and/or the vulva or
more intimate parts of the female genitals.
SPECIFIED SEXUAL ACTIVITIES
Includes any of the following:
A.
The fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region,
buttocks, anus or female breasts;
B.
Sex acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, including intercourse,
oral copulation or sodomy;
C.
Masturbation, actual or simulated; or
D.
Excretory functions as part of or in connection with any of the activities set forth in Subsections
A through
C above.
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OR CONTROL (OF A SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESS)
Includes any of the following:
A.
The sale, lease or sublease of the business;
B.
The transfer of securities which constitute a controlling interest in
the business, whether by sale, exchange or similar means; or
C.
The establishment of a trust, gift or other similar legal device which
transfers the ownership or control of the business, except for transfer by
bequest or other operation of law upon the death of the person possessing
the ownership or control.
Sexually oriented businesses are classified as follows:
B. Adult bookstores or adult video stores;
E. Adult motion-picture theaters;
I. Sexual encounter centers.
The annual fee for a sexually oriented business permit and/or license
is $500. This fee is to be used to pay for the cost of the administration
and enforcement of this chapter.
An applicant or permittee and/or licensee shall permit representatives
of the Police Department, Health Department, Fire Department, Zoning Department
or other City or state departments or agencies to inspect the premises of
a sexually oriented business for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the
law, at any time it is occupied or open for business.
The director shall suspend a permit and/or license for a period not
to exceed 30 days if he determines that permittee and/or licensee or an employee
of a permittee and/or licensee has:
A. Violated or is not in compliance with any section of
this chapter.
B. Become impaired or intoxicated through the use of alcoholic
beverages while on the sexually oriented business premises.
C. Refused to allow an inspection of the sexually oriented
business premises as authorized by this chapter.
D. Knowingly permitted gambling by any person on the sexually
oriented business premises.
A permittee and/or licensee shall not transfer his permit and/or license
to another, nor shall a permittee and/or licensee operate a sexually oriented
business under the authority of a permit and/or license at any place other
than the address designated in the application.
Sexually oriented businesses shall be permitted in any I-2 or I-3 Industrial
District, as defined in the City of Lockport Zoning Ordinance, provided that:
A. The sexually oriented business may not be operated within
1,000 feet of:
(1) A church, synagogue or regular place of religious worship;
(2) A public or private elementary or secondary school;
(3) A boundary of any residential district;
(5) A licensed day-care center; or
(6) Another sexually oriented business.
B. A sexually oriented business may not be operated in the
same building, structure, or portion thereof containing another sexually oriented
business.
C. For the purpose of this chapter, measurement shall be
made in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects,
from the nearest portion of the building or structure used as a part of the
premises where a sexually oriented business is conducted to the nearest property
line of the premises of a church, synagogue, regular place of worship or public
or private elementary or secondary school or to the nearest boundary of an
affected public park, residential district or residential lot or licensed
day-care center.
D. For purposes of Subsection
C of this section, the distance between any two sexually oriented business uses shall be measured in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the closest exterior wall of the structure in which each business is located.
A person who operates or causes to be operated a sexually oriented business,
other than an adult motel, which exhibits on the premises in a viewing room
of less than 150 square feet of floor space a film, video cassette or other
video reproduction that depicts specified sexual activities or specified anatomical
areas, shall comply with the following requirements:
A. Upon application for a sexually oriented permit and/or
license, the application shall be accompanied by a diagram of the premises
showing a plan thereof specifying the location of one or more manager's
stations and the location of all overhead lighting fixtures and designating
any portion of the premises in which patrons will not be permitted. A manager's
station may not exceed 32 square feet of floor area. The diagram shall also
designate the place at which the permit will be conspicuously posted, if granted.
A professionally prepared diagram in the nature of an engineer's or architect's
blueprint shall not be required; however, each diagram should be oriented
to the north or to some designated street or object and should be drawn to
a designated scale or with marked dimensions sufficient to show the various
internal dimensions of all areas of the interior of the premises to an accuracy
of plus or minus six inches. The director may waive the foregoing diagram
for renewal applications if the applicant adopts a diagram that was previously
submitted and certifies that the configuration of the premises has not been
altered since it was prepared.
B. The application shall be sworn to be true and correct
by the applicant.
C. No alteration in the configuration or location of a manager's
station may be made without the prior approval of the director or his designee.
D. It is the duty of the owners and operator of the premises
to ensure that at least one employee is on duty and situated in each manager's
station at all times that any patron is present inside the premises.
E. The interior of the premises shall be configured in such
a manner that there is an unobstructed view from a manager's station
of every area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for
any purpose excluding rest rooms. Rest rooms may not contain video reproduction
equipment. If the premises has two or more manager's stations designated,
then the interior of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that
there is an unobstructed view of each area of the premises to which any patron
is permitted access for any purpose from at least one of the manager's
stations. The view required in this subsection must be by direct line of sight
from the manager's station.
F. It shall be the duty of the owners and operator and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises to ensure that the view area specified in Subsection
E remains unobstructed by any doors, walls, merchandise, display racks or other materials at all times and to ensure that no patron is permitted access to any area of the premises that has been designated as an area in which patrons will not be permitted in the application filed pursuant to Subsection
A of this section.
G. No viewing room may be occupied by more than one person
at any time.
H. 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.
I. It shall be the duty of the owners and operator and it
shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises
to ensure that the illumination described above is maintained at all times
that any patron is present in the premises.
It shall be unlawful for any establishment, regardless of whether it
is a public or private facility, to operate as a massage salon, massage parlor
or any similar type business without a valid state permit or license. Furthermore,
it shall be unlawful for any such business, licensed or otherwise, to permit
physical contact with the recipient of such services by a person of the opposite
sex, where said recipient and/or the proprietor/masseuse is in a state of
nudity or seminude state (as defined hereinabove) while receiving such services.
It is a defense to prosecution under this chapter that a person appearing
in a state of nudity did so in a modeling class operated:
A. By a proprietary school, licensed by the State of New
York, or a college, junior college or university supported entirely or partly
by taxation;
B. By a private college or university that maintains and
operates educational programs in which credits are transferable to a college,
junior college or university supported entirely or partly by taxation.
A person who operates or causes to be operated a sexually oriented business
without a valid permit and/or license or otherwise violates this chapter is
subject to a suit for injunction as well as prosecution for criminal violations.