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Staff Report for Ordinance No. 574 Page Two of Three * Studies have conclusively shown that adult uses do generate adverse secondary effects that negatively impact surrounding properties with regard to health, safety and welfare in that crime rates increase and property values depreciate in areas adjacent to adult uses. * Communities can regulate adult uses to provide separation between such uses to prevent an accumulations of adult uses in one area as studies show adverse secondary effects increase as the number of adult uses grow. * Communities have the right to regulate(not prohibit) adult uses. Obviously, communities use zoning to regulate land uses. Any zoning regulations the City Council considers for adult uses must be based on: - * The effect the use has on the surrounding area, not on the materials sold or entertainment provided; * The uses create adverse secondary effects such as neighborhood blight, diminished property values and increased crime (the City can rely on studies conducted in other cities which show adverse secondary effects which are of particular concern to Mounds View). * The City must allow a reasonable opportunity area for adult uses, but the City can establish distance requirements. As directed by the City Council, Former Community Development Coordinator Paul Harrington worked with Jim Thomson, Attorney with Holmes& Graven, on the adult use issue. In general, two main points of proposed Ordinance No. 574 include: * Prohibiting adult establishments from locating within 500 feet of a residential zoning district, park, school, church, library, or commercial day care center or within 500 feet of another adult establishment. Distances are measured from the nearest point of the building where the adult establishment is located to the nearest boundary of the residential zoning district or of the property containing a park, school, church, library commercial day care center or other adult establishment. * Requiring a secured license, as provided for within Ordinance No. 574, in order to operate an adult establishment. The Planning Commission reviewed Ordinance No. 574 at the April 3, 1996 Regular Meeting and recommended approval in Resolution No. 445-96. Three issues were raised by the Planning Commission at the April 03, 1996 meeting. The following are the three concerns raised and Attorney Jim Thomson's responses to those issues: Q. The Planning Commission raised a concern regarding absentee landlords and the correlation to organized crime, and the absence of a provision to prohibit absentee landlords within this Adult Use Ordinance. A. Mr. Thomson replied that although studies have shown that absentee landlords have been linked to organized crime, the Adult Use Ordinance regulates issues closely related to First Amendment Rights. With issues relating to First Amendment rights, a City may only provide stipulations on issues relating