THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060663
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Although no one has asked to open an adult entertainment business in this Outer Banks town, Nags Head officials are considering a new ordinance that would restrict what would be allowed - and where.
At 9 a.m. this morning in the Town Hall, the Nags Head Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on proposals to regulate adult entertainment offerings - including sexually explicit movie theaters and bookstores. Under the suggested rules, other types of adult entertainment, such as topless dancers, would be prohibited. The board may vote on the law after the hearing.
Most Outer Banks tourist attractions are aimed at families who come here to enjoy the surf, sand and fishing.
``We're looking at two issues here: zoning concerns and a separate, police issue of what constitutes decency,'' Nags Head Town Manager Webb Fuller said Tuesday. ``State statutes don't allow us to totally ban adult entertainment facilities. So we're trying to regulate bookstores and theaters, which would be permitted in certain areas.
``We want to put provisions in place to limit the types of adult establishments that would be allowed in a manner that the people of Nags Head would want,'' Fuller said. ``We'll also be soliciting input from our citizens about their interpretations of decency standards.''
Currently, town rules only limit adult entertainment businesses through general zoning statutes. Those laws are open to interpretation and could have been challenged in court, Fuller said. State statutes only prohibit reproductive organs from being displayed in public during live entertainment shows.
Thong bathing suits, for example, are permitted on Nags Head beaches.
Town officials have been working on specific adult entertainment restrictions and definitions for more than a year. Fuller said a topless bar called ``Mermaids'' in Currituck County prompted the Nags Head commissioners to try to adopt pro-active rules regulating such establishments.
On Sunday, Currituck County sheriff's officials served a criminal summons on the owner of ``Mermaids'' for failing to close the club despite county orders to do so because it did not meet the proper zoning requirements for an adult entertainment business.
The bar owner is appealing that ruling.
``We're approaching this thing the same way, basically, as Currituck,'' said Fuller. ``We got some suggested provisions for adult entertainment regulations off the Internet, from the Institute of Government and the American Planning Association. We've borrowed, begged and stolen information about these issues from other local and state statutes.''
On Jan. 8, the Nags Head Board of Commissioners enacted a moratorium on adult establishments until its members could adopt provisions regulating those businesses. Once the new rules are on the books, Fuller said, that ban will be lifted. The town planning board recommended the proposed laws in September.
Under the suggested ordinances, adult entertainment facilities would only be allowed in areas zoned for commercial services, or C-3. The town has three large vacant C-3 parcels west of the Route 158 bypass, between Satterfield Landing and Eighth Street, near the Food Lion shopping center. ``In addition, there's always the potential for development of an existing site,'' planning board officials wrote town commissioners in a Feb. 23 memo.
Proposed rules define adult establishments as ``only an adult motion picture theatre . . . and an adult bookstore. Adult live entertainment . . . shall not be allowed in an adult establishment.'' Alcoholic beverages will not be allowed to be sold at any adult business.
Adult movie theaters are defined as ``an enclosed building or premises with at least 100 fixed seats and used for presenting motion pictures, a preponderance of which are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.''
Massage parlors, health salons and related businesses are not regulated under the proposed ordinance. They are, instead, considered under town license and business regulations. Fuller said, however, that one-time wet T-shirt contests or male dancer shows also may be affected by the suggested rules.
``Lowered property values and increased crime rates tend to accompany and are brought about by the concentration of adult establishments,'' the suggested ordinance says. ``Regulation of these uses is necessary to ensure that these effects do not contribute to blighting of surrounding neighborhoods - and to protect the integrity of the town's schools, churches, child day care centers, parks and playgrounds which are typically areas in which juveniles congregate.'' by CNB