069 of 2003 - enacting temporary zoning regulations for sexually oriented businesses in certain zoning districts 0 03-1
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SALT LAKE CITY ORDINANCE
No. 69 of 2003
(Enacting Temporary Zoning Regulations for
Sexually Oriented Businesses in Certain Zoning
Districts)
AN ORDINANCE ENACTING TEMPORARY ZONING REGULATIONS FOR
SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES IN CERTAIN ZONING DISTRICTS.
WHEREAS, § 10-9-404, UTAH CODE ANN., authorizes cities, without a public hearing, to
enact ordinances establishing temporary zoning regulations for any part or all of the City if the
City Council makes a finding of compelling, countervailing public interest; and
WHEREAS, Section 10-8-84, Utah Code Annotated 1953, as amended, authorizes the
City the authority to enact and amend ordinances to protect the health, safety and welfare of the
inhabitants of the City, including the power to regulate sexually oriented businesses; and
WHEREAS, in 1988 the City Council addressed a growing concern regarding the
blighting and degrading effect on certain neighborhoods in the City from a concentration of
sexually oriented adult entertainment businesses in such neighborhoods, held public hearings
regarding sexually oriented businesses, and relied on the findings and experiences of cities
including Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, and others concerning the effects and regulations of
sexually oriented businesses; and
WHEREAS, the City Council in 1988 determined that sexually oriented businesses have
a deleterious effect on exiting businesses and the residential areas adjacent to them, causing
increased crime and the degrading of property values, urban blight, and the downgrading of the
quality of life in adjacent areas; and
WHEREAS, thereafter the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 21 of 1988 (the"1988
Ordinance"), enacting Salt Lake City Code Chapter 5.61,which regulates sexually oriented
businesses in the City; and
WHEREAS, in 1995 the City Council adopted an ordinance (the"1995 Ordinance")
enacting Salt Lake City Code Section 21A.36.140 which also regulates sexually oriented
businesses, including the specifying the zoning districts in which such businesses are allowed:
WHEREAS, since the adoption of the 1988 Ordinance and the 1995 Ordinance the City
Council has reviewed studies, or summaries or reports of studies reviewed by its staff, from the
following cities, which demonstrate that adverse secondary effects result to cities from sexually
oriented businesses: Houston, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Phoenix, Arizona; Beaumont,
Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Amarillo, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Cleveland, Ohio;
Austin, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Seattle, Washington; Tucson, Arizona; Whittier,
California; and Garden Grove, California; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that sexually oriented businesses, due to their nature,
have serious objectionable operational characteristics,particularly when they are operating in
close proximity to each other, thereby contributing to crime, lower property values, higher
occupancy turnover, neighborhood deterioration, urban blight, and downgrading of the quality of
life in the areas adjacent to such businesses; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that increased crime and unhealthful conduct tend to
accompany, concentrate around and be aggravated by sexually oriented businesses, including but
not limited to prostitution,pandering, exposing minors to harmful materials,possession and
distribution of obscene materials and child pornography, possession and sale of controlled
substances, and violent crimes against persons and property; and
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WHEREAS, the City Council finds that concern over sexually transmitted diseases,
including AIDS, is a legitimate health concern of the City which demands reasonable regulation
of sexually oriented businesses in order to protect the health and well being of the citizens; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that there is a deterioration in the quality of
businesses which choose to operate in and around sexually oriented businesses; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has determined,based on its review of such studies, or
summaries of or reports regarding such studies, and its knowledge of the size, demographics and
characteristics of the City, that the same or similar adverse effects of sexually oriented
businesses have occurred or will occur in the City; and
WHEREAS, the City Council believes that the evidence contained in such studies is
relevant to the problem regarding sexually oriented businesses that the City addresses; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has a significant governmental interest in minimizing and
controlling these adverse secondary effects and thereby protecting the health, safety and welfare
of the citizens;protecting the citizens from increased crime; preserving the quality of life;
preserving the property values and the character of surrounding neighborhoods and businesses;
deterring the spread of urban blight; and protecting against the threat to health from the spread of
communicable and social diseases; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has been advised that findings regarding adverse secondary
effects are incorporated in cases of the United States Supreme Court and other courts regarding
local regulation of sexually oriented businesses, including but not limited to: Young v. American
Mini-Theatres, Inc., 417 U.S. 50 (1976);Renton v. Playtime Theatres, 475 U.S. 41 (1986);
FW/PBS, Inc. v. Dallas, 493 U.S. 215 (1990);Barnes v. Glen Theatre, 501 U.S. 560 (1991); City
of Erie v. Pap's A.M., 529 U.S. 277 (2000); City of Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, 535 U.S. 425
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(2002); Z.J. Gifts D-2, L.L.C. v. City of Aurora, 136 F.3d 683 (10th Cir. 1998); and Essence, Inc.
v. City of Federal Heights, 285 F.3d 1272 (10th Cir. 2002); and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that zoning regulations are a legitimate, reasonable
means of assuring that sexually oriented businesses are located in places that minimize the
adverse secondary effects which naturally accompany their operation; and
WHEREAS, the City's current zoning regulations permit sexually oriented businesses in
certain zoning districts; and
WHEREAS, the City is vitally interested in preventing deterioration of the downtown
area and in encouraging and revitalizing retail and other businesses in the downtown area, and
the City Council finds that allowing the adverse secondary effects caused by sexually oriented
businesses in the downtown area would significantly harm such revitalization efforts; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has received numerous complaints from residents and
business owners in the City regarding the presence of sexually oriented businesses in the
downtown area; and
WHEREAS, the City Council has now determined that the City's existing regulations
concerning sexually oriented businesses should be modified in order to protect against these
adverse secondary effects in the downtown area and that the need to modify the City's
regulations constitutes a compelling, countervailing public interest, which justifies temporary
zoning regulations; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that the City's interest in adopting these temporary
regulations outweighs any private interest in the application of the City's existing ordinances;
and
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WHEREAS, the City Council did not in enacting its existing sexually oriented businesses
ordinances, and does not in adopting this temporary zoning ordinance, intend to regulate speech
or expression, protected by the First Amendment, because of its content, and the regulations in
this ordinance are content-neutral time,place, and manner restrictions enacted pursuant to the
City's police power, aimed at avoiding or reducing the adverse secondary effects of sexually
oriented businesses documented in the evidence described above reviewed by the City Council
and its staff; and
WHEREAS, the City Council, based on the evidence described above and its own
knowledge regarding adverse secondary effects caused by sexually oriented businesses, finds and
believes that the restrictions imposed by this ordinance will further its interest in avoiding or
reducing such adverse secondary effects, and that the restrictions affect only categories of
sexually oriented businesses that produce the unwanted secondary effects that the City seeks to
regulate; and
WHEREAS, this ordinance does not diminish the need for criminal prosecution of
purveyors of illegal material such as child pornography, material harmful to minors, or
obscenity;
NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah:
SECTION 1. The City shall and hereby does enact the following temporary zoning
regulations:
TEMPORARY ZONING REGULATIONS FOR SEXUALLY
ORIENTED BUSINESSES IN CERTAIN ZONING
DISTRICTS
A. Purpose. It is the purpose of this ordinance to regulate sexually oriented businesses in
order to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the City, and to
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establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious location and
concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the City. The provisions of this ordinance
have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any
communicative materials, including sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is not the intent nor
effect of this ordinance to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials
protected by the First Amendment, or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of
sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market. Neither is it the intent nor effect of this
ordinance to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.
B. Finding of compelling, countervailing public interests. Pursuant to § 10-9-404, UTAH
CODE ANN., the City Council finds that the adverse secondary effects of sexually oriented
businesses constitute a compelling, countervailing public interest sufficient to justify the
enactment of temporary zoning regulations for a period of six (6)months.
C. Balancing of public versus private interests. The City Council further finds that any
harm to private interests resulting from this temporary zoning regulation is outweighed by the
City's interest in protecting the City against the adverse secondary effects of sexually oriented
businesses.
D. Prohibition. Pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in this ordinance, sexually
oriented businesses, as defined in Salt Lake City Code Section 21A.62.040, shall not be a
permitted or conditional use in the Central Business District (D1), Downtown Support
Commercial District(D2), and Downtown Secondary Central Business District (D4) zoning
districts on a temporary basis as provided in Section E. During the period of this Temporary
Zoning Regulation, the City shall not accept or review applications or plans for and shall not
issue any permit or approval or license for any sexually oriented business in the D 1, D2 and D4
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.
zoning districts. The current provisions on sexually oriented businesses in all other zoning
districts shall remain in effect.
E. Length of temporary zoning regulations. These temporary zoning regulations shall
remain in effect for a period not to exceed six (6)months from the effective date of this
ordinance or until the effective date of any ordinance passed by the City Council that may amend
the City's regulations relating to sexually oriented businesses, whichever occurs first.
SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. That this ordinance shall become effective on the
date of its first publication.
Passed by the City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah, this 16thday of September, 2003.
AIRPERSO'
ATTEST:
CHIEF DEPUTY CITY RECORDER
Transmitted to the Mayor on 9/2 2/0 3
Mayor's Action: ((Approved ❑Vetoed
MAYOR
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ATTEST:
0404 C-74-0(0 -•
CHIEF DEPUTY CITY RECORDER
(SEAL)
:#A4A r At
Bill No. 69 of 2003 •.. Yz„ r��r
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Published: 10-1-03 •
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