[Added 5-5-2003]
This bylaw is enacted pursuant to MGL c. 40A
and pursuant to the Town's authority under the Home Rule Amendment
to the Massachusetts Constitution to serve the compelling Town interests
of limiting the location of certain adult entertainment uses, as defined
and designated herein, in response to studies demonstrating their
deleterious effects.
It is the purpose of this Adult Entertainment
Bylaw to address and mitigate the secondary effects of the adult entertainment
establishments and sexually oriented businesses that are referenced
and defined herein. Secondary effects have been shown to include increased
crime, adverse impacts on public health, adverse impacts on the business
climate of municipalities, adverse impacts on the property values
of residential and commercial properties, and adverse impacts on quality
of life. All of said secondary impacts are adverse to the health,
safety and general welfare of the Town of Lancaster and its inhabitants.
The provisions of this bylaw have neither the purpose or intent of
imposing a limitation on the content of any communicative matter of
materials, including sexually oriented matter or materials. Similarly,
it is not the purpose or intent of this bylaw to restrict of deny
access by adults to adult entertainment establishments or to sexually
oriented matter or materials that are protected by the Constitutions
of the United States or of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, nor
to restrict or deny rights that distributors or exhibitors of such
matter or materials may have to sell, rent, distribute or exhibit
such matter or materials. Neither is it the purpose or intent of this
bylaw to legalize the sale, rental, distribution or exhibition of
obscene or other illegal matter of materials.
As used in this bylaw, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
Includes the following uses:
Adult bookstores, as defined by MGL c. 40A,
§ 9A.
Adult motion-picture theaters, as defined by
MGL c. 40A, § 9A.
Adult paraphernalia store, as defined by MGL
c. 40A, § 9A.
Adult video store, as defined by MGL c. 40A,
§ 9A.
Establishment which displays live nudity for
its patrons, as defined by MGL c. 40A, § 9A.
Adult entertainment uses shall be permitted
only in the Light Industry 2 (LI2) District, only upon the grant of
a special permit by the Select Board. Special permits shall only be
issued under this section following public hearings held within 65
days after filing of an application with the Select Board, a copy
of which application shall forth with be given to the Town Clerk by
the applicant. Such a special permit shall not be granted unless each
of the following standards has been met:
A.
The application for a special permit for an adult
use shall provide the name and address of the legal owner of the establishment,
the legal owner of the property, and the manager of the proposed establishment.
B.
No adult use special permit shall be issued to any
person convicted of violating the provisions of MGL c. 119 § 63,
or MGL c. 272, § 28.
C.
All building openings, entries and windows shall be
screened in such a manner as to prevent visual access to the interior
of the establishment by the public.
D.
No adult use shall be allowed to display for advertisement
or other purpose any signs, placards or other like materials to the
general public on the exterior of the building or on the interior
where the same may be seen through glass or other like transparent
material any sexually explicit figures or words as defined in MGL
c. 272, § 31.
E.
No adult use shall be allowed to disseminate or offer
to disseminate adult matter or paraphernalia to minors or suffer minors
to view displays or linger on the premises.
F.
The proposed adult entertainment use shall comply
with the off-street parking requirements set forth in this bylaw.
G.
No adult entertainment use shall have any flashing
lights visible from outside the establishment.
H.
No adult entertainment use shall have a freestanding
accessory sign.
I.
No special permit shall be issued for an adult entertainment use unless the applicant shall have first submitted a site plan to the Planning Board and obtained the Planning Board's approval of such site plan pursuant to Article X. The site plan shall depict all existing and proposed buildings, parking spaces, driveways, service areas and other open uses.
J.
The sale, dispensation or consumption of alcoholic
beverages is prohibited on premises where an adult entertainment use
establishment exists.
The special permit granting authority may impose
reasonable conditions, safeguards and limitations on time or use of
any special permit granted, including a condition that any such special
permit shall be personal to the applicant, shall not run with land
and shall expire upon expiration of the applicant's lease or upon
sale or transfer of the subject property.
A special permit to conduct an adult entertainment
use shall expire after a period of two calendar years from its date
of issuance and shall be automatically renewable for successive two-year
periods thereafter, provided that a written request for such renewal
is made to the special permit granting authority prior to said expiration
and that no objection to said renewal is made and sustained by the
special permit granting authority based upon the public safety factors
applied at the time that the original special permit was granted.
The provisions of this article are severable
and, in the event that any provision of this article is determined
to be invalid for any reason, the remaining provisions shall remain
in full force and effect.
