ARTICLE 22 - SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES

Section 22-100 PURPOSE - Regulations and Requirements for Operation within a Commercial Zone

Section 22-101 Sexually oriented businesses require special supervision in order to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Forest Home Township and patrons of such businesses.

Section 22-102 It is the purpose of this Ordinance to regulate sexually oriented businesses and related activities to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the Township, and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the deleterious location of concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the Township The provisions of this Ordinance do not have the purpose of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative material, including sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is not the intent of this Ordinance to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market.

Section 22-103 There is convincing documented evidence that sexually oriented businesses, because of their nature, have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, causing increased crime and downgrading of property values.

Section 22-104It is recognized that sexually oriented businesses, due to their nature, have serious objectionable characteristics, particularly when they are located in close proximity to each other, thereby contributing to blight and downgrading the quality of life in the adjacent area.

Section 22-105 The Township of Forest Home desires td prevent these adverse affects and thereby protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizenry, preserve the property values land character of surrounding neighborhoods and deter the spread of urban blight.

Section 22-106 It is not the intent of this Ordinance to suppress any activity protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or the Michigan Constitution, but to enact a content neutral ordinance which addresses the adverse secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses.

Section 22-107 It is not the intent of the Township of Forest Home to condone or legitimize the distribution of the obscene materials, and the Township of Forest Home recognizes that state and federal law prohibits the distribution of obscene materials and expects and encourages state enforcement officials to enforce state and federal obscenity statutes against any such illegal activities within the Township of Forest Home.

Section 22-108 An applicant or permittee shall allow the Township Planning Commission or its appointed representative to inspect the premises of a sexually oriented business for the purpose of insuring compliance with the law at any time it is occupied or open for business.

Section 22-109 The Township shall take enforcement action, including the commencement of suit seeking revocation of a permit, if any of the following occurs:

1. A permittee gave false or materially misleading information in the application process.

2 A permittee has been convicted of using and/or allowing the use of controlled substances

3 A permittee has been convicted of prostitution or other activity fostering, promoting or otherwise facilitation of prostitution, within the establishment or elsewhere.

4. A permittee or employee of the sexually oriented business has been convicted of any crime of sexual nature of involving sexual conduct or the solicitation thereof

5. A permittee has been convicted of allowing a person under eighteen (18) years of age to enter the establishment.

6. There has been a transfer of ownership or control of an establishment without the prior consent of the Planning Commission, as required herein.

Section 22-110 A permittee shall not transfer his permit to another, nor shall a permittee operate a sexually oriented business under the authority of a permit at any place other than the address designated in the application. Permittee must complete application.

Section 22-111 A person who operates or causes to be operated an adult entertainment establishment which presents live entertainment for the enjoyment of an audience which has paid or promised to pay an admission fee and which depicts specified sexual activities or displays specified anatomical areas, shall comply with the following requirements:

1. Upon application for a sexually oriented business permit, the application shall be accompanied by a diagram of the premises showing a plan thereof specifying the location of one or more manager's stations and the location of all overhead lighting fixtures (indicating the type of illumination intensity of each such fixture) and designating any portion of the premises in adding thirty (30) square feet of floor area The diagram shall also designate the place at which the permit will be conspicuously posted, if granted. A prepared diagram in the nature of an engineer's or architect's blueprint shall not be required. Each diagram should be oriented to the north or to some designated street or object and should be drawn to a designated scale and with marked dimensions sufficient to show the various internal dimensions of all areas of the interior of the premises.

2. The application shall be sworn to be true and correct by the applicant.

3 No alteration in the configuration or location of a manager's station may be made without the prior approval of the Planning Commission.

4. It is the duty of the owners and operator of the premises to ensure that at least one employee is on duty and situated in each manager's station at all times that any patron is present inside the premises.

5. The interior of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view from a manager's station of every area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose excluding restrooms. Restrooms may not contain video reproduction equipment. If the premises have two or more manger's stations designated, then the interior of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view of each area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose from at least on the manager's stations. The view required in this subsection must be by direct line of sight from the managers station.

6. It shall be the duty of the owners and operator, and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises to ensure that the view area specified in number 5. above, remains unobstructed by any doors, walls, merchandise, display racks or other materials at all times and to ensure that no patron is permitted access to any area of the premises which has been designated as an area in which patrons will not be permitted in the application filed pursuant to number 1. of this section.

7. The premises shall be equipped with overhead lighting fixtures of sufficient intensity to illuminate every place to which patrons are permitted access at .an illumination of not less than one(1) foot-candle as measured at the floor level.

8. It shall be the duty of the owners and operator and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises to ensure that the illumination described above is maintained at all times that any patron is present in the premises.

9. The premises shall meet all barrier free requirements and building code requirements imposed by the Antrim County Building Department.

Section 22-112 Exterior Portions of Sexually Oriented Businesses. It shall be unlawful for an owner or operator of a sexually oriented business to allow the merchandise or activities of the establishment to be visible from a point outside the establishment.

Section 22-113 It shall be unlawful for the owner or operator of a sexually oriented business to allow the exterior portion to the sexually oriented business to have any words, lettering, photographs, silhouettes, drawing, or pictorial representations of a sexual or explicit manner except to the extent otherwise permitted by the provisions of this Ordinance.

Section 22-114 Proposed signage shall not include animated or flashing illumination of any type and otherwise conforms with the requirements of Forest Home Township Zoning Ordinance. Proposed signage may contain only the name of the sexually oriented business and shall not include photographs, silhouettes, drawings, or pictorial representations of any type.

Section 22-115 All of street parking areas shall be illuminated during all hours of operation in accordance with lighting standards of Forest Home Township Zoning Ordinance and shall otherwise be open to view from the adjacent roadway

Section 22-116 A sexually oriented business may not have outside speakers on the exterior of any buildings or anywhere on the outside of their property.

Section 22-117 It shall be unlawful to allow a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age to enter or be on the premises of a sexually oriented business at any time that the sexually oriented business is open for business.

Section 22-118 It shall be the duty of the operator of each sexually oriented business to ensure that an attendant is stationed at each public entrance to the sexually oriented business at all times during such sexually oriented business' regular business hours. It shall be the duty of the attendant to not allow any person under the age of eighteen (18) years of age to enter the sexually oriented business. It shall be presumed that an attendant knew a person was under the age of eighteen (18) years of age unless such attendant asked for and was furnished: a valid operator's, commercial operator's; or chauffeur's license; or a valid personal identification certificate reflecting that such person is eighteen (18) years of age or older.

Section 22-119 Entrances to the proposed Adult Business will be posted on both the exterior and interior walls, clearly visible to the public, indicating in lettering no less than one and one-half inches in height that, a) "No one under the age of eighteen (18) is permitted to enter the premises", and b) "No alcoholic beverages of any type are permitted within the premises" unless specifically allowed pursuant to a license duly issued by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.