2005/06/15 Council Agenda Packet

shows, x -rated movies and strip joints. This zone was a special overlay district applying to only seven acres of the City's space. The overlay zone had two main purposes: (A) The City wanted to concentrate similar adult entertainment uses into a single small area; and (B) the City wanted to prevent the spread of these uses to other areas of the City. The district approach has certain advantages over a case by case zoning approach. Specific district boundaries are set and development standards are established. These two items when taken together reduce greatly the administrative cost when compared to a case by case condi- tional or specific use permit requirement. The limited confines of the district boundary reduces the potential for new development. The district approach also reduces the opportunity for arbitrary and subjective de- cisions. The overlay district offers the potential to evaluate the total public service impact of adult uses. The concentration in a single area allows for the review of relative cost and revenues to the City. Police costs will certainly be higher, as will related traffic and parking costs. These costs though can be determined. Permits can be required and the fees for these can reflect the true costs to the community. 2. The Detroit, Michigan approach. In 1972 Detroit implemented an ordinance designed primarily to prevent the development of additional "skid -rows". It was found that concentrations of various straight and pornographic uses were generally determinates of the deterioration of surrounding areas. Detroit has two objectives: (A) to separate typical "skid -row" uses from each other; and (B) to keep these same uses separate from residential areas. These objectives lead to a single policy of dispersing "skid - row" uses and spreading them throughout the commercial and industrial areas of the City. After "skid -row" uses had been determined, defined and subjected to a conditional permit process, they were allo.�ied in only certain zones of the City and then only in sites meeting certain requirements. These two techniques and adaptations to them are the only methods currently being used to control the location of adult entertainment activities. The Supreme Court in Young v American Mini Theaters has upheld the approach that Detroit has implemented. No test has yet been made of the Boston method of controlling the spread of adult businesses. Recently the Boston "Combat Zone" (the seven acre overlay district) has obtained some notoriety as being a failure, with social and administrative costs exceeding a tolerable level. Both Detroit and Boston have chosen land use controls as their primary method of regulating adult businesses. Both use coincidentally a licensing regulation. -8- EVER00328