2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

persons believed that the quality of life and business was adversely affected by litter, graffiti, difficulty in recruiting employees and retaining and attracting customers. Also noted was difficulty in renting office space and keeping desirable tenants. Indianapolis, Indiana The Indianapolis Division of Planning undertook a study, published in 1984, to determine if zoning controls were warranted for adult entertainment businesses! The study recommended that adult uses should be allowed only by special exception in commercial districts oriented. beyond a neighborhood, and not within 500 feet of a residential, school, church or park property line, or historic area. The Indianapolis study analyzed crime data, including sex crimes, and real estate data, including a national survey of real estate appraisers. The study cautions that the analyses should not be construed as conclusively proving a causal relationship between adult uses and increased crime or decreased property values. However, the study found that major crimes occurred in study areas that contained at least one adult entertainment establishment at a rate that was 23 percent higher than six control areas (similar areas but without adult establish- ments), and 46 percent higher than the Indianapolis Police District. The. average sex-related crime rate per 10,000 population in the control areas over a five-year period was 26.2, while that rate for the study areas was 46.4. A survey of real estate professionals was undertaken in conjunction with the Indiana University School of Business' Division of Research. It consisted of a 20 percent random sample of nationwide members of the American Institute of,Real Estate Appraisers and a 100 percent sample of Member Appraisers Institute members who practiced in 22 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) of a size similar to Indianapolis. The appraisers were asked to give their "best professional opinion" about property values in a hypothetical situation where an adult bookstore was about to locate in a middle-income, residential neighborhood. A majority of appraisers (75%) responding to the national survey thought that an adult bookstore located within one block would have a negative effect on the value of both residential (80%) and commercial (72%) properties. At a distance of three blocks, 71 percent thought that the impact of an adult bookstore fell off sharply so that the impact was negligible on both residential (64%) and commercial (77%) properties. a "Adult Entertainment Businesses in Indianapolis, An Analysis," Division of Planning, 1984 5 E V ER00104