News
Adult video booths spur zoning dilemma
Published: Jun 06, 2003 - 12:57 PM
The county cited two adult video stores for operating video booths without permission.
Pac-Man is on par with video peep shows in certain zoning districts in Alachua County.
They are both considered arcades.
The ambiguity has the county moving to clarify its rules and the owner of an adult video store claiming he's being unfairly targeted.
Pac-Man is on par with video peep shows in certain zoning districts in Alachua County.
They are both considered arcades.
The ambiguity has the county moving to clarify its rules and the owner of an adult video store claiming he's being unfairly targeted.
Earlier this week, codes enforcement officers cited X-Mart - formerly the XTC Adult Supercenter - on SW 13th Street and Video Outlet on W. University Avenue for installing coin-operated video booths without special permission from the County Commission.
Unaware of the rules, Video Outlet owner Danny Warren is bitter that his business was cited and that the county isn't looking to see if other stores in the same zoning category are also out of compliance. Many restaurants and bars entertain waiting patrons with video machines.
"What we have is an attempt to harass adult-oriented businesses," said Warren, whose store has been up and running at its current location since 1998.
He put in three video booths about a year ago.
"If I ordered 28 movies from Jerry Falwell and showed them in these booths and I started selling Christian books, I would have never had this visit," Warren said.
But county officials defend their actions.
Possible code violations are typically inspected following a complaint.
In this case, the video-booth issue was brought to the county's attention by a consultant hired to write an ordinance regulating adult-oriented businesses.
"We just don't go around rousting property owners," said Rick Drummond, the county's director of growth management, which includes codes enforcement. "If someone were to lodge a complaint (against a restaurant, for example) then we would be willing to check it out."
But Drummond acknowledges county rules fail to address anything about adult-oriented businesses. In other words, adult retail stores can open in most locations that are zoned for other types of retail businesses.
That's why the county's spending $20,000 on Eric Kelly, vice president of Duncan Associates - a national consulting firm with experience in land development regulations, growth management and impact fees - to clarify county zoning policies related to adult-oriented businesses.
The absence of a county policy came to light about three years ago when XTC opened in a building previously used as a restaurant on SW 13th Street. The parking lot of the retail store backs up to a neighborhood near the south end of Bivens Arm.
Residents pleaded with the county to do something to close the business.
But residents' complaints could not be addressed because the rules allowed the business to operate.
Kelly, contacted by phone at his office in Muncie, Ind., said coin-operated video booths in adult book and video stores should be banned.
"It is an on-site entertainment use," Kelly said. "You are going to have problems with on-site entertainment that you are never going to have with a retail store."
Oftentimes, Kelly said, areas with video booths become hangouts for those wanting to pick up other people, an area prime for prostitution and other illicit behavior.
"I have never seen the same kind of social problems with video games," Kelly said.
Kelly expects to present preliminary recommendations for a new ordinance in July.
In the meantime, Video Outlet and X-Mart have until July 3 to remove their machines or file for a special exception to their zoning.
Warren said he's consulting a lawyer.
Unaware of the rules, Video Outlet owner Danny Warren is bitter that his business was cited and that the county isn't looking to see if other stores in the same zoning category are also out of compliance. Many restaurants and bars entertain waiting patrons with video machines.
"What we have is an attempt to harass adult-oriented businesses," said Warren, whose store has been up and running at its current location since 1998.
He put in three video booths about a year ago.
"If I ordered 28 movies from Jerry Falwell and showed them in these booths and I started selling Christian books, I would have never had this visit," Warren said.
But county officials defend their actions.
Possible code violations are typically inspected following a complaint.
In this case, the video-booth issue was brought to the county's attention by a consultant hired to write an ordinance regulating adult-oriented businesses.
"We just don't go around rousting property owners," said Rick Drummond, the county's director of growth management, which includes codes enforcement. "If someone were to lodge a complaint (against a restaurant, for example) then we would be willing to check it out."
But Drummond acknowledges county rules fail to address anything about adult-oriented businesses. In other words, adult retail stores can open in most locations that are zoned for other types of retail businesses.
That's why the county's spending $20,000 on Eric Kelly, vice president of Duncan Associates - a national consulting firm with experience in land development regulations, growth management and impact fees - to clarify county zoning policies related to adult-oriented businesses.
The absence of a county policy came to light about three years ago when XTC opened in a building previously used as a restaurant on SW 13th Street. The parking lot of the retail store backs up to a neighborhood near the south end of Bivens Arm.
Residents pleaded with the county to do something to close the business.
But residents' complaints could not be addressed because the rules allowed the business to operate.
Kelly, contacted by phone at his office in Muncie, Ind., said coin-operated video booths in adult book and video stores should be banned.
"It is an on-site entertainment use," Kelly said. "You are going to have problems with on-site entertainment that you are never going to have with a retail store."
Oftentimes, Kelly said, areas with video booths become hangouts for those wanting to pick up other people, an area prime for prostitution and other illicit behavior.
"I have never seen the same kind of social problems with video games," Kelly said.
Kelly expects to present preliminary recommendations for a new ordinance in July.
In the meantime, Video Outlet and X-Mart have until July 3 to remove their machines or file for a special exception to their zoning.
Warren said he's consulting a lawyer.
