[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Fort
Plain 12-7-1989 as L.L. No. 1-1989. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Zoning — See Ch. 192.
In the development and execution of this chapter, it is recognized that
adult bookstores or adult video rental stores, because of their very nature,
are recognized as having serious objectionable operational characteristics,
particularly when several of them are concentrated under certain circumstances,
thereby having a deleterious effect upon the adjacent area. Special regulation
of such uses is necessary to ensure that these adverse effects will not contribute
to the blighting or downgrading of the surrounding neighborhood or pose a
threat to the welfare and safety of the public. It is further declared that
the location of these uses in regard to areas where youths may regularly assemble
and the general atmosphere encompassing their operation is of great concern
to the Village of Fort Plain.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
An establishment having as a substantial or significant portion of
its stock-in-trade, for sale or for rent, books, magazines, other periodicals,
films, slides or videos which are distinguished or characterized by their
emphasis on matter depicting or relating to specified sexual activity or specific
anatomical areas or otherwise considered as being obscene, as defined below,
for observation by patrons therein or elsewhere.[1]
Any material or performance is "obscene" if the average person, applying
contemporary community standards, would find that, considered as a whole,
its predominant appeal is to the prurient interest in sex and depicts or describes,
in a patently offensive manner, actual or simulated sexual intercourse, sodomy,
sexual bestiality, masturbation, sadism, masochism, excretion or lewd exhibition
of the genitals and, as considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary,
artistic, political and scientific value. Predominant appeal shall be judged
with reference to ordinary adults, unless it appears from the character of
the material or the circumstances of its dissemination to be designed for
children or other specially susceptible audiences.
It shall be unlawful to hereafter establish any adult bookstore or adult
video rental store within 300 feet of any building containing a residential
dwelling or rooming unit or to establish any adult bookstore or adult video
rental store within 500 feet of any other adult bookstore or adult video rental
store.
It shall be unlawful to hereafter establish any adult bookstore or adult
video rental store within 500 feet of the real property line of any school
or within 150 feet of a bus stop for the picking up and dropping off of school
children.
It shall be unlawful to hereafter establish any adult bookstore or adult
video rental store within 500 feet to the nearest property line of any library,
park or playground and at least 500 feet from the nearest property line of
any church or other place of worship.
The restrictions enumerated in this chapter may be waived by the Village
Zoning Board of Appeals if the applicant shows and the Board finds that all
the following conditions have been met in addition to all other general zoning
conditions:
A.
That the proposed use will not be contrary to the public
interest or injurious to nearby properties and that the spirit and intent
of this chapter will be observed.
B.
That the establishment of such use in the area will not
be contrary to any program of neighborhood conservation or improvement, either
residential or nonresidential.
C.
That 51% or more of the property owners within the restricted
area have signed a petition stating that they have no objection to the establishment
of an adult bookstore or adult video rental store.
Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall
be guilty of a violation and subject to a fine not to exceed $250 or 15 days'
imprisonment, or both. Each day during any portion in which any violation
of this chapter is committed, permitted or continued shall constitute a separate
offense, each offense which shall be subject to such fine.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to apply to:
A.
The purchase, distribution, exhibition or loan of any
work of art, book, magazine or other printed or manuscript material by any
accredited museum, library, school or institution of higher learning.
B.
The exhibition or performance of any play, drama, tableau
or motion picture by any theater, museum, school or institution of higher
learning, either supported by public appropriation or which is an accredited
institution supported by private funds.
C.
Persons who may possess or distribute obscene matter
or participate in conduct otherwise proscribed by this chapter when such possession,
participation, distribution or conduct occurs in the course of law enforcement
activities or in the course of bona fide scientific, educational or comparable
research or study or like circumstances of justification.
