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<br />Sue:",: CuliJboratlng wi,h the city pl.nning Jeparrment. Huw mueh .,pac, IS enough to a(commu".," .lJuit bu.""e'.b " , I
<br />Clullanl Issued a 65-page proposal last Scpci::mber ihar Without lewng chern overrun {he:- communicy-or bc- perceIved
<br />recommended prohibiting sexually orience'd businesses from as doing so! That concern arises from J. series of U.S. Supreme #
<br />locJ.ting wichin 500 feet of residences, schools, houses of Couct cases that arc worth reviewing bridly.
<br />worship, or each Other. Giuliani also proposed a morarorium, Ultimately, the line of relevanr cases goes back to Young v. I
<br />which ends Noyc::mber ..30, on the opening of any new aduIc Amaican ,Wini Th~l1trtJ. Inc., 427 U.S. 50,95 S.Cc, 2240
<br />businesses while [he proposals were being considered. City (1976). The city of Detroic became concerned in (he early
<br />council president Perer Vallone soon produced a separate 1970s about the rapid growth of adult bookscoces and chearers
<br />proposal, and borh mer Co work ouc a compromise chat has in depopulaced and riot.dc:va5cJ,tcd areas. From JUSt cwo such I
<br />become che basis of discussion by che ciry's 36 communicy businesses in 1967] Derroit by 1972 counted 35 copless bars, 25
<br />boards chroughouc this year. adult cheare-rs, and 2 I adult bookscores, many dusce-red on
<br />While their recommendations have varied, chey have leaned major choroughfares. To cope wich this influx, the cicy passed
<br />heavily coward cightening the proposed n:scriccions, in some an ordinance: that defined adult bookstore. adult theater and I
<br />cases co I ,QOO feet. The final proposal, however, stands by the minithearcr, and Group "0" cabarer, added rhese co che list of
<br />5DO-foor spacing. Marilyn Mammano, the cicy's direccor of regulated uses, and prohibited them from locating within 500
<br />zoning and urban design, says chis plan provides for 492 feet of residences. In addition] adult chearers could not (ocate I
<br />locations citywide for adulr businessc:s. She noces thac tightening within 1,000 feet of any CWo orher adult escablishments. Two
<br />~he rules further might jeopardize ~he constitutionalicy of the adulr theaters chaJlenged the ordinance: and, in one case, the:
<br />proposed ordinance by making it too difficult for adult uses to federal district COUrt struck down the spacing requirements.
<br />find suitable locations. The proposal also would limit the size, Detroit responded by amending the ordinance to prohibit I
<br />placement, and illumination of business signs On adulc location within 500 feet of a residentially zoned area. In the
<br />eS(ablishmencs and limic them ta 10,000 square feet. It also o,her case, however, ,he Six,h Circuit COUrt of Appeals S(ruck .'
<br />would require exiS(ing nonconforming businesses and signs ta down the emire ordinance. }l,
<br />terminare within one year, wirh certain exemptions and In a ,consoIidar:d appeal, ,he U.S. Supreme COUrt held rhat 'jf; I
<br />eXCenSlOn procedures. . '. Deeroer s zoning dtd noc totally suppress rhe opporrunlty fat :~
<br />InterestIngly, of rhe 1 n eXISting adult bUSInesses, 26 would free expreSSlOn of che type found In adul, cheaters and,.~
<br />be permimd to continue in their present locacions, 17 of rhem therefore, the zoning was valid. Moreover, it sanctioned rhe ~'I
<br />in Manharran. Overall, abour 11 percem of rhe city's land area discinct c1assifiCltion of adult chearm wichin the zoning AI-
<br />would be available for adul, USes, but the spacing tequiremenr.s ordinance as a special type of regulared land use. Deeroit~;".
<br />would limic thar area in Manhattan to 3.9 percent, with higher succeeded because ic convinced the COUrt that che .:"':i'
<br />percenrages in the four orher boroughs. concenrmion of rhe regulared land uses posed a specific rhreat " .
<br />of det.-:rioration to surrounding properties. . .':"-.,
<br />Shifting Gears In Columbia In subsequenr years, a plethora of communities narionwide i:,
<br />While New York City has debated its proposed new ordinance, sought ro copy Dettaic's ordinance, assuming it was rhe magic
<br />Columbia, South Carolina, has both appealed the rejection of bullet thac would deter me concenrration of adult uses while I
<br />its ordinance and adopc.-:d a new one co take its place. This dual passing constitutional muster. The Achilles hed for many was a
<br />stance has left the city in a precarious legal position as it seeks to failure to consider a significanc foomote in the Young decision:
<br />respond to public conc.:rn abouc four adult businesses, two near I
<br />residencial areas. The situation would be quire different if the ordinance had the
<br />A previous ordinance requiring l,OOO~foot separation of dFect of suppfl:.s.sing. or gread.r r~strjcting acce:s to, lawful
<br />I 'fi h h ks speech. Here, however. [he DIstrict CoUrt speCIfically found that
<br />adu C encerpnses rom c urc es, schools, par ,day care centers, _L d' d <<.c . f" hi' h
<br />. . . . Ule or mantes 0 nor acrect Ule operation 0 exIsung esu JS .
<br />and resldennal neighborhoods was overturned In seate COUrt. men~, but only the location of new ones. There are, myriad of I
<br />Circuit Judge Walcer Bns~o~ ruled early last year rhac the, 10Cltions in the cicy ofOmoit wbich mUSI be over 1,000 feel
<br />ordinance dTectIvdy prohlblted such bUSInesses from locatIng fcom existing regulated cstablishmems. This burden on First
<br />anywhere in the dry. Two dubs-Chippendolls, which features Amendment rights is slight. (427 U.S. at 71, foornote 35)
<br />nude dancing, and Chasers' Mags-N-Mixers-had been ordered 1
<br />to close. The city had madded its ordinance on that of The upsho, of che foornore was a strong hint rhac no specific
<br />surrounding Rkhland County, bue the councy has far more land spacing requiremenr would pass muster as such, bur that the
<br />available under such n:scrictions. The cicy is now appealing its real issue was whether the spacing requiremenr-or any ocher I
<br />case to the South Carolina supreme COUrt. method of res~ricting the location of adult uses-allowed
<br />In (he meantime, however, it had an unenforceable adequate locarional opportuniries for adulc uses so as nor to
<br />ordinance. While the cicy planning departmcm recommended suppress protected free expression.
<br />loosening ,he resuierion, co 750 feet, the planning commission Over the nexc deCIde, many citie.> rhac had adopted what I
<br />last December went furtherl recommending 500 fecr, slightly Were, in effect, copycat ordinances encountered constitutional
<br />more than one city block (450 feet). The cicy council adopted difficulties in court, often seeing entin: o~dinances struck down.
<br />the ordinance on January 18. Unlike in New York, however, che Ofeen, the simple reason was chat their ordinances, unlike rhat .
<br />planning depmmenr will no, reveal the number or location of in Deeroic, bad left no adequare room-and in some cases no. ~\ 1
<br />available sites this new rule crear.-:s, cicing the Current !itiO'::lrion. room at all-for adult uses to operare an)"Nhere within me .;L~
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<br />jurisdictionallimjrs. The issue finally came: to a head once ag:un ....:.
<br />Location, Location in CiryofRmron v. Playrim< Th,arm, Inc., 475 U,S. 1132, 106,
<br />,\Iammano's concern about ,he constirutionality of the New 5.Cc. 106 (1986). Renton, , Seacde suburb, had stared<ts,;;i} I
<br />Yotk Otdinance rda,es ro.. tricky issue ofba1an~e ,hat has findings of porenr;al bligh, on rhe basis of a Searde study that ..:.-'~,
<br />plagued many commun"'es across the counery In recene years: led to an ordinance substantially ddferenr from the one adopted '.:e.
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