2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

SUMMARY OF LEGAL ISSUES AND THE EXPERIENCE ELSEWHERE The concern about the presence of adult businesses in the midst of American cities dates at least from the decades following the Second World. War when a recognition of their impact upon surrounding land values and a growing indignation about their effect on communities became widespread. By the early 1990's the regulation of adult use businesses and entertainment establishments had become a serious issue for communities across the United States -This is reflected in a number of studies and public testimony ,showing a relationship between adult use establishments on -the one hand, and declining property values, crime and neighborhood deterioration on the. other. It Is these "secondary effects" which the Supreme Court and other federal and state courts take into account when ruling on the efforts of communities to regulate these businesses. The present study is not a legal treatise—though it does --review some .legal precedents by way of background—but an analysis and documentation of the Impacts of a concentration of adult use establishments on the Times Square area. The major questions on this subject for a`court are whether any limitation on adult uses is based on content, or whether it is based on the secondary effects of these uses on the surrounding community. There have been a number of instances in the last years in which federal courts have found adult use zoning restrictions to be acceptable, if they have been motivated by a desire to protect neighborhood quality, -as contrasted with an impermissible desire to ban the message purveyed by the adult uses.. It appears. that :courts will accept restrictions If.. they serve -..a "substantial govemment interest if any statute is narrowly drawn to achieve that end, and if there are "reasonably available alternative avenues of communication".:."Substantial goverment interest" has been defined to.* include reasonable attempts by municipalities to reduce urban blight and to -preserve neighborhood character. "Alterative avenues of communication" requires that there be enough other -places In the city for the relocation of these"establishments..-The availability of such places needs to- be shown in court as a matter .of fact.'- Some act: Some cities have employed a variety of regulatory mechanisms. They have created special use zoning districts; they have required that adult uses be located at specified distances from residences, schools, churches, or business and commercial districts; and they have required operators of regulated establishments to obtain licenses or permits. Some illustrations are: • Detroit's adoption of an "anti-skid row" zoning ordinance to disperse and/or bar from designated areas the establishment of a broad array of designated businesses, includingiadult uses. These restrictions were supported by studies of secondary effects. EVER00189 3