Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/07/2006

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cials could "reasonably believe" that the cited evidence is relevant to the local situation. An ordinance regulating sex businesses is usu- ally proposed because of community con- cerns. Planners can find local parallels with the information from the formal studies from other communities, including: media reports aboutthe sex business indus- try's penetration of rural markets. Opposition petitions and general statements against sex businesses are not useful in the record. Con- cerned citizens should testify to facts and not opinions. To the detriment of adult use oppo- nents in one Georgia county trying to build a . If the evidence shows that other types of businesses have similar adverse effects, are there other laws or ordinances that address those effects, or will the proposed ordinance also address those? . Are the major substantive provisions designed specifically to address one or more of the adverse secondary effects? . testimony from law enforcement officers about incidents of crime associated with existing sex businesses; . testimony from neighbors about illegal or suspicious activity (including sexual) outside the business-in cars, on nearby lawns, and elsewhere in the neighborhood but in the vicinity of the use; and . testimony from landlords, property owners, or real estate agents about the difficulty of selling or renting property near an existing sex business. A small town or rural county with few or no sex businesses should list other communi- ties' facts in the findings section of their ordi- nance and indicate that it must rely on these studies. Officials may also want to record legislative record, a study by the sheriffs department found no definitive relationship between crime and the sex business use. In such circumstances, communities must closely examine the data, including the loca- tion ofthe businesses. One conclusion may be that there is no problem with either the- location or the management of the use. The legislative record and findings should support the community's proposed regulations. Ask the following: . Is there evidence in the record of negative secondary effects of sex businesses? . Does the evidence relate to the same types of businesses under the governance of the ordinance? REGULATIONS: ZONING AND LICENSING Planners should be concerned with two issues related to sex businesses: . Location: a classic zoning issue, although many ordinances go beyond specifying the dis- tricts that should allow such businesses; and . Operation: a difficult issue to address through zoning and better dealt with through a licensing ordinance. The location of sex businesses is important because the potential for secondary impacts ." =- c c ~ C" < [ ;;- n c c ~ m m = Q. '" ;;- '" " ~ ~ m .... bears a direct relationship to proximity to the business. Similarly, crimes caused by a sex busi- ness extend beyond the property lines of the business but they do not extend indefinitely. Licensing ordinances address business operations and not location. Indeed, many seX businesses are clean, well managed, and self-contained, with quiet environs and nicely illuminated parking lots. Others are unkempt, disorderly havens for prostitutes. Licensing ordinances require that the businesses oper- ate in such a way that they minimize the neg- ative secondary effects on the community. Any community regulating sex businesses should establish basic zoning criteria. Without it, a permit application for a sex media store ZONING PRACTICE 10.06 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION I Ef-g 5