Minutes - Council - 10/09/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Doug Fountain inquired if adult use accessory businesses can be restricted from publicly displaying adult magazines available on the premises. Mr. Fountain inquired if it would be possible to have adult use accessory businesses have those magazines presented for sale upon request only. Mr. Licht stated that he will research Mr. Fountain's inquiry. Natalie Haas Steffen noted that the citizens have not been brought up-to-date regarding whether or not what is being displayed at the existing adult bookstore is defined as obscene. Mr. Hartley replied that the reports he has seen indicate that obscene material does not exist in the current adult bookstore. Mr. Hartley explained that the method in which courts deal with obscenity is on a case by case basis. Part of the Miller decision talks about community standards and, because of that Miller decision, each and every obscenity prosecution has to be considered on a case by case basis. One item found to be obscene in one instance, in another court, could be found not to be obscene. Ramsey's chances are better if it were to prosecute something that was already determined to be obscene, but there is no guarantee of that. The types of material known to be available at the present bookstore have not been found to be obscene. Should Ramsey proceed to prosecute obscenity or something that might be obscene according to community standards? The $100,000.00 budgeted for the law suit in Ramsey's current case would be the price tag for each and every obscenity prosecution. For that reason, Ramsey has requested the assistance of the County Attorney's office and the Minnesota Attorney General's office in dealing with obscenity. Natalie Haas Steffen stated that she applauds the City for what it has done so far and for paying particular attention to community standards. Mr. Czerwonka noted that adult accessory use is being defined as consuming 10% of the available space in a business and inquired if it wouldn't be better to define adult use accessory based on the amount of proceeds, say 20%, for example. Mr. Licht replied that it is fairly easy to restrict adult use accessory according to space requirements from a building inspection standpoint. To regulate based on financial operations becomes impossible to police. Walter Owens - 9431 ~ 176th Avenue N.W. - inquired if research has turned up any information regarding the effect of licensing fees as a controlling factor in future development of these types of businesses. Mr. Licht replied that licensing fees have been proven as not an obstacle to stop some activity from occurring. In addition, licensing fees have to be tied to processing time and the cost for same cannot be used as a means for a community to generate profit. If the licensing fee is set based on the cost of processing the application, then the fee charged would not be a prohibative expense to the applicant. Joe McGinnis - 17051 Yttrium Street N.W. - stated that he is not ready to accept pornography in this community. Mr. McGinnis also inquired if hours of operation could be established for adult- type uses. Mr. Licht stated that setting hours of operation warrants further consideration. Currently, the City does not have the automatic right to set hours of operation and that would become one of the conditions that might be looked upon disfavorably as a regulation. Cheryl Krats - 6326 Okapi Street N.W. - inquired as to why County undercover agents cannot be sent into the bookstore to try and find evidence of obscene material and press charges. Public Hearing/October 9, 1990 Page 13 of 14