THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070485
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
Anyone interested in opening adult entertainment establishments in this Outer Banks community will have to wait at least until fall to apply for a permit, Nags Head commissioners decided Wednesday.
In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Bob Muller dissenting, the board tabled any action that would regulate or restrict adult entertainment until town officials can hear more on the issue from Nags Head residents.
Until new laws are enacted, a moratorium on adult establishments that was adopted more than a year ago will remain in place.
``We're not there yet,'' Commissioner Doug Remaley told about 30 people who attended a public hearing on new adult entertainment rules. ``I recommend strongly that the board send this thing back to the planning department. And I move to table this decision until after our land use surveys are sent to the citizens this summer and completed.''
Muller said, however, that he felt that it was time for the town to move forward and adopt some statutes regulating adult entertainment establishments.
``This ordinance does what we want it to,'' said Muller. ``We're putting ourselves at risk by delaying its adoption any further.''
Currently, town rules limit adult entertainment businesses only through general zoning codes. Those laws are open to interpretation and could be challenged in court, Town Manager Webb Fuller said. State statutes do not allow North Carolina towns to ban adult entertainment outlets entirely.
Nags Head attorney Tom White agreed that by not specifically limiting what types of adult entertainment establishments would be permitted in the town, officials could be opening the door to some outlets they may not be able to control.
``Without this ordinance, you risk having adult entertainment establishments in any commercial zoned area,'' White told the board. ``Then, unless those places cross the boundary of obscenity - which is almost impossible to prove - we can't do anything about it.''
Five citizens, including two ministers, spoke on the proposed adult entertainment regulations during Wednesday morning's 20-minute hearing. All said they favored more restrictive rules than the ones suggested. And many painted a grim picture of what X-rated establishments could do to a ``family oriented'' beach town.
``I've seen how, in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, this type of thing grows like a cancer,'' Nags Head Cove resident Dave Masters said. ``The next thing you know, you get a 14th Street type area with one strip joint and prostitute after another . . . I hope you will consider not allowing any of these activities.''
Al Hibbs agreed. ``We all know adult entertainment is a euphemism - and not a very good one - for pornography and smut,'' said Hibbs, who has lived in Nags Head for 16 years. ``I'm surprised and chagrined that this board would take measures that could undermine what Nags Head has tried to be for all these years. Once the elephant gets his trunk in the tent, the tail will soon follow. What follows? Tattoo parlors, check-cashing stations, topless bars and all the other bad business that comes with these things: Social garbage.
``Let's not be facilitators,'' Hibbs said. ``Let's dig in our heels and say, `Not in our town.' I'd rather see the town drag it out in the courts than roll over and wave the white flag.''
Town officials said they saw the need to adopt some sort of adult entertainment ordinances to protect themselves from future problems that might arise if someone tried to open such an establishment.
Under the proposed rules discussed Wednesday, sexually explicit movie theaters and bookstores would have been permitted only in areas zoned for commercial services, or C-3. The suggested statutes would have banned other types of adult entertainment, such as topless dancers. 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.
``There are 15 types of adult businesses that could end up applying for permits in a commercial zoning district,'' White said. ``Usually, it's a 7-Eleven or that type of convenience store that gets into selling printed materials that most citizens would find pornographic. . . . That could happen anywhere with a legitimate bookstore or private motion picture area in the back. With this ordinance, you can say that's not allowed in that district. Otherwise, you may not be able to put a stop to it.
``The First Amendment rights of free speech and free expression sort of overwhelm everything else,'' said the town attorney. ``We're trying to do this the right way. We're not regulating what someone does in their own home. You can rent videos right now in the stores here that would shock most people. This proposed ordinance is the best way to protect the town in the long run.
``If someone opens an adult entertainment store in the C-2 district right now, they'll be allowed to continue that operation at least until the case is settled in court.'' by CNB