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Q.2. Doesn't adoption of an ordinance allowing adult uses encourage their <br />location in the community? <br />A.2. Probably not. Purveyors of adult entertainment base their location decisions <br />like any other business. These types of uses are allowed by nature of their first <br />amendment protection — not having regulations would diminish the City's ability <br />to manage where they go in the community. <br />Q.3. Why don't we create an ordinance that prohibits these uses? <br />A.3. The courts have made it clear that such ordinances are unconstitutional as an <br />illegal constraint on expression. If a City is found to have such an ordinance <br />under a legal challenge, a court would throw out the City's code, and the adult use <br />would have free rein to locate where they wish, without the City's ability to <br />manage the impacts of the use. <br />Q.4. Can we create an ordinance that includes these uses as potentially allowed, <br />but limits their location in such a way that effectively zones them out of the City? <br />A.4. No. This would be called a "pretextual" ban — the City may regulate certain <br />aspects of these uses, but may NOT have an ordinance that effectively bans them <br />under the guise of "regulation ". A court would treat this type of ordinance the <br />same as an outright prohibition. <br />Q.5. So how can we regulate these uses? <br />A.5. In the area of speech regulation, the City typically has the ability create what <br />are commonly called "time, place, and manner" regulations. As a general rule, <br />the City may not discriminate by the content of the speech, nor may it <br />discriminate by the identity of the speaker. However, the City can place non- <br />discriminatory restrictions based on location, or on the style of delivery of a <br />message, or on the duration or timing of a message in the protection of public <br />health, safety, and welfare. In addition, the City may prohibit "obscene" speech. <br />Thus, an adult use establishment which is otherwise properly located may be <br />prohibited from displaying messages that are judged to be obscene. <br />Q.6. What do you mean by "properly located "? <br />A.6. A number of US Supreme Court cases have addressed this issue. The most <br />relevant is City of Renton, WA v. Playtime Theatres., a ease that arose in Renton, <br />Washington over a challenge to the City's ordinance regulating the location of <br />adult theatres. In Renton, the Court majority established that the City's <br />regulations were not regulating the content of the speech, but rather, regulating <br />the "secondary effects" of that speech which might be imposed on the public, <br />especially populations judged to be sensitive to these effects. Renton's ordinance, <br />and the court opinion validating it, established a number of standards for the <br />regulation of adult - oriented uses. Cities were granted the ability to regulate the <br />location of these establishments to mitigate the potential secondary effects of such <br />uses. <br />