2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

felt that an adult bookstore located within a block of a residential neighborhood would have a negative effect on real property. Major crimes occurred in study areas that contained at least one adult entertainment est=blishment at a rats. that was 23 percent higher than six control areas (similar areas without adult entertainments), and 46 percent, higher than the Indianapolis Police District. The City of Whittier, California, found higher turnover rates in commercial and residential areas adjacent to adult uses. The study compared 38 types of criminal activity over two time periods, showing a total increase of 102 percent for the study area containing adult businesses while the city, as a whole, only had an eight percent increase. A study by the City of Austin, Texas, compared areas with adult businesses to other areas containing similar land uses but no adult businesses, revealing a sex crimes rate between two and five times greater in the areas with adult businesses. The study also showed that the sex- related crime rate was 66 percent h;gher in areas having two or more adult businesses than in those areas having only one such business. Phoenix, Arizona, studied the relationship between arrests for sex crimes and the locations of adult businesses, finding an overall increase of six times the sex crime rate in the study areas with adult uses over the control areas without such uses. The State of Minnesota reported that a study conducted in that state examining the effects of sexually -oriented businesses upon property values and crime rates indicated clearly that such businesses had a strong negative impact on the crime rate. The addition of one sexually - oriented business to a census tract area caused an increase in the overall crime rate index in that area by more than nine percent. In another state study, it was determined that there was a statistically significant correlation between the location of adult businesses and neighbor- hood deterioration. Housing values were significantly lower in an area with three adult businesses than in an area with only one adult business. Also, there was a significantly higher crime rate associated with two adult businesses in an area than was associated with only one adult business in an area. Many other localities such as Manatee County, Florida, and New Hanover County, North Carolina, relied on the studies of other localities to predicate zoning text amendments, a method sanctioned by the United States Supreme Court. 13 As a result of these impact studies, numerous communities enacted zoning laws to restrict the location of sex businesses hJ City of Renton v. Plavtime Theatres. Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986). 60 EVER00158