11-08-1999 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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FROM ••• • . t • A • ^ ^ • •: .v:^; •: ^ t lb uiuiviuutu non-commercial expression. Accoramgiy, mumcipaiiues may regulate itic time, place, and manner of sexually-oriented expression lilce tliat offered by adult businesses if there is a valid govciumcntal interest in doing so and the regulatory scheme is narrowly tailored to achieve such valid objectives. A city may not, whether by purpose or effect, completely ban or exclude scxually-orieated speech, other than obscenity. To be valid, government regulation of non-obscene sexusdly-oriented materials and expression must be (1) "content-neutral," meaning that a city cannot regulate the content of the si)eech or expression involved; (2) narrowly-tailored to advance a substantial government interest, which the courts have determined includes preventing the unwanted secondary effects of adult businesses; and (3) must allow reasonable alternative avenues ot communication, meaning that adult businesses cannot be excluded completely from a city but may be restricted from locating within specified distances of certain uses. The focus of any government regulation of adult businesses must be on the secondary effects they will have on surrounding uses and areas, and not on their content — i.e., the mere fact that ihcy arc adult businesses featuring sexually-oriented materials- If a City Council reasonably believes that the types of adult businesses it is proposing to regulate will produce Such unwanted secondary effects, it will be allowed "a reasonaolc opportunity to c.xpcrimcnt with solutions" to protect the community from such impacts. In terms of adequate alternative avenues of communication, the United States Supreme Court has upheld an ordinance that allowed adult businesses to locate only within 591 ’ of the total area of a city. Other couru in other cities have measured alternative avenues of communication available to adult businesses by the number of separate business sites that became available once the regulation went into effect and/or the proportion of commercially- zoned land (generally including business, co.mmercial, and industrial districts) within which an adult business could operate. As drilfied tlic ordinance proposed for Orono targets the unwanted secondary effects that, based on studies, other cities have found to be caused by the presence of adult businesses. Nevertheless, for clarity, we have attempted to make the City s purpose in that regard more explicit, both in the ordinance text and in the proposed findings on which its adoption might be based. Wc have also added language that declares the City CouncU’s specific Intent not to interfere with the exercise of First Amendment rights. Before the City Council acts on the proposed Amendment. City staff must complete its saidy of the alternative avenues of communication that will be availab.c if the ordinance is adoptwd. in terms of the proportion of space within the city’s commercial districts or the city as a whole where an adult business could locate. The draft Ordinance would impose distance resiricUons between adult businesses and certain vnilnsrable uses, such as day care centers, 22V2il54735 l(V!/99