11-08-1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORDINANCE NO. A Cofv\v^/ut^'\ ^ **/l AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ORONO, MINNESOTA, AMENDING CITY CODE CHAPTER IQ, BY ADDING A NEW SECTION 62 RELATING TO ADULT USES. WHEREAS, the City recognizes the sanctity and fundamental nature of free speech; and WHEREAS, the City does not intend to regulate or ban speech based on content; and WHEREAS, the City has reviewed and relies on the State Attorney General's "Report of the Attorney General's Working Group on Regulation of Sexually Oriented Businesses," dated June 6, 1989, which details the effects and impacts of sexually-oriented business; and WHEREAS, the City also has reviewed and relies on the "Task Force Report on Sexually-Oriented Businesses," authored by the City of Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Shakopee, Minnesota, which considered relevant studies from six cities; and WHEREAS, the City of Orono is similar to the cities in the Attorney General's study and the cities involved in preparing the above Task Force Report, as well as the cities whose studies were considered therein, and the City will experience the same secondary effects from adult businesses as did those cities; and WHEREAS, adult businesses have an impact on the neighborhoods surrounding them which is distinct from the impact caused by other uses; and WHEREAS, residential neighborhoods located within close proximity to adult businesses experience increased crime rates (sex-related crimes, in particular), lowered property values, increased transiency, and decreased stability or ownership; and WHEREAS, the adverse impacts which adult businesses have on surrounding areas diminish as the distance from the adult use increases; and WHEREAS, studies of other cities have shown that among crimes which tend to increase either within or in the near vicinity of adult businesses are rapes, prostitution, child molestation, indecent exposure, and other lewd and lascivious behavior; and WHEREAS, the control and regulation of adult businesses require intensive police and public health efforts by the City and its contractors and consultants, and that the concentrated use of such services detracts from and reduces the level of services available to the rest of the