TOWN COUNCIL MAJORITY OFFICE
ORDINANCE COMMITTEE
JULY 14, 2008
PRESENT Chair Richard F. Kehoe, Councillors William P. Horan, Jr. and Donald H.
Pitkin
ALSO
PRESENT Eric Thompson, Councillor
Rich Gentile, Assistant Corporation Counsel
Regg and Davida Thibault, 42 Chester Street
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Kehoe called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
June 30, 2008 Meeting
MOTION By Don Pitkin
seconded by Bill Horan
to approve the June 30, 2008 Ordinance Committee minutes.
Motion carried 3/0.
OPPORTUNITY FOR RESIDENTS TO SPEAK
None
OLD BUSINESS
Adult Entertainment
The Chair reviewed the July 14, 2008 draft of the ordinance on sexually oriented businesses and also reviewed the cases that Corporation Counsel has distributed to the Town Council’s office for review by Committee members. The Chair urged Committee members and, indeed, all Councillors to review these case studies so that they are familiar with the experiences in other states. The Committee reviewed, section by section, the July 14th draft, making numerous minor and technical changes to the draft mostly for clarity purposes. Among the changes were: (1) adding the definition of media so that the ordinance will cover any depiction of adult oriented movies or films whether by traditional DVD's or through a display on the Internet or any other similar mechanism that may come with technological progress;
(2) modifying the definition of "sexually oriented retail store or theater" to include any establishment selling adult oriented magazines, movies, books or gag gifts that depict sexual anatomy or sex acts or are used for sexual gratification; (3) establishing a reasonable standard for lighting, taking into consideration existing limits for retail stores or bars; (4) clarifying that the film monitoring by the sexually oriented business must be returned for access by town officials or employees to ensure compliance with the law; it is noted that many businesses retain such surveillance equipment; and (5) ensuring that manager or entertainer applicants receive prompt notice of the town's decision whether to license such person and providing an appeal process.
The Committee was comfortable that the ordinance, with these changes, would assure that the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses would be limited and that the Town would be assured that all such businesses would be operated in a legal manner.
MOTION By Don Pitkin
seconded by Bill Horan
to send the July 15, 2008 draft (which is the July 14th draft with the changes
recommended by the Committee) of the proposed ordinance entitled
“Sexually Oriented Businesses” to the Town Council for the purposes of
setting a public hearing date.
Motion carried 3/0.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION By Don Pitkin
seconded by Bill Horan
to adjourn (8:05 p.m.)
Motion carried 3/0.
cc: Town Council
Mayor Currey
Rich Gentile, Assistant Corporation Counsel
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