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Page 4 -- October 10, 2004 <br /> <br /> Adult Entertainment- City allows adult-businesses on less than 1 percent <br /> of its land <br /> Topless bar claims this was i~zsufficient to allow nude Communication <br /> Citation: MJ £;~rerra,:nmenr E;~rerprz'xex b'kc. v. The Ci~ Of Mot~nr Ve~on, U.S. <br /> District Court Pbr the $o~tthem District of New Fork, No. 02 Civ. 63d7 <br /> <br /> N~EVv' YORK (08/04/04) -- Mount Vernon was a small, densely-populated resi- <br /> dential city. Residential zones comprised 87 percent of the land. Only 13 percent <br /> of the land, about one-half acre, was zoned for commercial and industrial uses. <br /> Of this, less than 1 percent allowed adult businesses. <br /> MJ Entertainment Enterprises Inc. wanted to open a bar with topless danc- <br />ers. However, it believed there was no available land in the city zoned for its <br />desired use. <br /> MJ sued, arguing the sinai] amount of land made available for adult busi- <br />nesses was unconstitutional because it provided insufficient alternative av- <br />enues of communication through nude dancing. <br />DECISION: Judgment in favor o£ the city. <br /> There were sufficient alternative avenues of communication. <br /> nea vfl¥ on the fact the Mount Vernon zoning code left less than 1 <br />percent of Mount Vemon's land (.67 percent of its relatively meager amount of <br />commercially-zoned land) available for adult businesses. However, the Constitu- <br />tion did nor mandate any minimum percentage of land be made available for <br />certain types of speech. It only reqmred zoning schemes' regulating the location <br />of speech provide a reasonable opportunity to disserrfinate the speech at issue. <br /> Moreover, as the city pointed out, courts have routinely upheld zoning <br />ordinances where less than i percent of the land was available for adult busi- <br />nesses ~o operate. <br /> Consequently, the ordinance regulating the location of adult businesses <br />was consritutionai, even though it left less than 1 perceflt of the available land <br />open for nude communication. <br />.~ee c, iso: Cin, o/Lirrieron v. Z.Z Gifts D-4 LLC, ~24 S.C'~. 2219 (2004). <br /> <br />3'ce ~i.~'o: Cochr~n v. Town o.f"PIczrcy, 143 FS~zpp. Pri 235 (2001). <br /> <br />Condit'ionat'Use Permit -- City grants perrdt with road repair conditions <br />Local ;'eside;~t c!aims ~rct~iic ;~or ;a/ce~ imto accouter <br />Cirsric, n.' '~ .... <br /> <br />~&S2D ~OF OVer t,': <br /> <br />144 <br /> <br /> <br />