[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Wrightstown
by Ord. No. 1996-11 (Chapter XXII of the Revised General Ordinances). Amendments
noted where applicable.]
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Borough of Wrightstown and the patrons of such sexually oriented businesses. Although sexually oriented businesses as defined by N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2 are not listed as expressly permitted uses and are therefore prohibited uses by virtue of Chapter 219, Zoning and Land Development, § 219-4, it is acknowledged that certain such businesses are in existence in the commercial zone.
B.
It is accepted that certain sexually oriented activities
may include prohibited acts and criminal offenses and these uses, by their
very nature, are recognized as having serious objectionable operational characteristics,
particularly when located near residential zones or in other inappropriate
locations or without sufficient showing that such uses in a specified location
will comply with the conditions and standards for the location and operation
of such uses.
C.
It is further recognized that sexually oriented businesses,
due to their nature, have a deleterious effect on existing businesses around
them or in close proximity to one another, thereby contributing to urban and
rural blight and adversely affecting the quality of life in the adjacent area.
The Borough Council desires to minimize and control these adverse effects
to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens; protect the citizens
from increased crime; preserve the quality of life; preserve the property
values and character of surrounding neighborhoods and deter the spread of
urban and rural blight.
D.
While it is not the intent of this chapter to suppress
any speech activities protected by the First Amendment but to enact content-neutral
regulations which address the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses,
it is not the intent of the Borough Council to condone or legitimatize the
promotion of obscene material, and the committee recognizes that pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 2C:34-2b, New Jersey State law prohibits "the dissemination of
obscene materials to a person 18 years of age or younger either by sale, distribution,
rental or exhibition and expects and encourages state enforcement officials
to enforce the obscenity statutes against any such illegal activities in Wrightstown
Borough."
E.
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to regulate
sexually oriented businesses to promote the health, safety and general welfare
of the citizens of the Borough of Wrightstown, as well as the patrons of such
businesses, and to establish reasonable regulations to prevent adverse effects
of sexually oriented businesses within the borough. The provisions of this
chapter have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction
on the content of any communicative material or speech activity, including
sexually oriented materials or expressive speech activity. Similarly, it is
not the intent nor effect of the chapter to restrict or deny access by adults
to sexually oriented materials or activity protected by the First Amendment,
or to deny access by the distribution and legal exhibition of these wares
to their intended market.
The definitions set forth herein are adopted from N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2.
An individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association
or other legal entity.
A commercial establishment which as one of its principal business purposes
offers for sale, rental or display any of the following: Books, magazines,
periodicals or other printed material, or photographs, films, motion pictures,
video cassettes, slides or other visual representations which depict or describe
a specified sexual activity or specified anatomical area; or still or motion
picture machines, projectors or other image-producing devices which show images
to one person per machine at any one time, and whether the images so displayed
are characterized by the depiction of a specified sexual activity or specified
anatomical area; or instruments, devices or paraphernalia which are designed
for use in connection with a specified sexual activity; or
A commercial establishment which regularly features live performances
characterized by the exposure of a specified anatomical area or by a specified
sexual activity, or which regularly shows films, motion pictures, video cassettes,
slides or other photographic representations which depict or describe a specified
sexual activity or specified anatomical area.
A.
A person commits an offense if he operates or causes
to be operated a sexually oriented business within 1,000 feet of:
B.
For the purposes of Subsection A, measurement shall be made in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the building or structure used as a part of the premises where a sexually oriented business is conducted, to the nearest property line of the premises of a church or place of religious worship, or public or private elementary or secondary school, or to the nearest boundary of an affected public park, residential district or residential lot.
C.
Any sexually oriented business lawfully operating in violation of Subsection A or B above, as of the enactment into law of this chapter, although nonconforming, shall be permitted to continue, within the parameters set forth herein unless it is voluntarily discontinued for a period of 30 days or more.
D.
A sexually oriented business lawfully operating is not
rendered illegal by the location, subsequent to the grant or renewal of the
appropriate mercantile license, of a church or place of religious worship,
public or private elementary or secondary school or public park. This provision
applies only to the renewal of a valid license, and does not apply when an
application for a license is submitted after a license has expired or has
been revoked.
E.
Sexually oriented businesses, being nonconforming uses
within the Borough of Wrightstown, are subject to the rules and regulations
as set forth in the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., and
any expansion, alteration, change, etc., shall be subject to the restrictions
set forth under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d.
F.
No sexually oriented business shall violate or suffer
or permit or have upon its premises a person convicted of a violation of a
crime, any statute, ordinance or regulation involving sexually oriented businesses
or violate any other law pertaining to the operation of the premises or violate
the provisions of the ordinance. Any such infraction shall cause legal action
against the mercantile license of such business as set forth in the Code of
the Borough of Wrightstown.
A.
A person who operates or causes to be operated a sexually
oriented business shall comply with the following requirements:
(1)
Upon application for a mercantile license, the application
shall be accompanied by a diagram of the premises showing a plan thereof specifying
the location of one or more manager's stations and the location of all overhead
lighting fixtures and designating any portion of the premises in which patrons
will not be permitted. A manager's station may not exceed 32 square feet of
floor area. The diagram shall also designate the place at which the permit
will be conspicuously posted, if granted. A professionally prepared diagram
in the nature of an engineer's or architect's blueprint shall not be required;
however each diagram should be oriented to the north or to some designated
street or object and should be drawn to a designated scale or with market
dimensions sufficient to show the various internal dimensions of all areas
of the interior of the premises to an accuracy of plus or minus six inches.
The Borough Council may waive the foregoing diagram for renewal applications
if the applicant adopts a diagram that was previously submitted and certifies
that the configuration of the premises has not been altered since it was prepared.
(2)
No alteration in the configuration or location of a manager's
station may be made without the prior approval of the Construction Code Official
or his designee.
(3)
It is the duty of the owners and operator of the premises
to ensure that at least one employee is on duty and situated in each manager's
station at all times that any patron is present inside the premises.
(4)
The interior of the premises shall be configured in such
a manner that there is an unobstructed view from a manager's station of every
area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose
excluding rest rooms. Rest rooms may not contain video reproduction equipment.
If the premises has two or more manager's stations designated, then the interior
of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed
view of each area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access
for any purpose from at least one of the manager's stations. The view required
in this subsection must be by direct line of sight from the manager's station.
Viewing booths must be separated at least 12 inches from the exterior walls
of any other viewing booths by open space.
(5)
It shall be the duty of the owners and operator, and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises to ensure that the area specified in Subsection A(4) remains unobstructed by any doors, walls, merchandise, display racks or other materials at all times that any patron is present in the premises and to ensure that no patron is permitted access to any area of the premises which has been designated as an area in which patrons will not be permitted in the application filed pursuant to Subsection A(1) of this section.
(6)
The premises shall be equipped with overhead lighting
fixtures of sufficient intensity to illuminate every place to which patrons
are permitted access at an illumination of not less than one footcandle as
measured at the floor level.
(7)
It shall be the duty of the owners and operator and it
shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises
to ensure that the illumination described above, is maintained at all times
that any patron is present in the premises.
(8)
A sexually oriented business operating without a New
Jersey Alcoholic Beverage License shall be permitted to conduct the sexually
oriented business only between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. A sexually
oriented business operating with a New Jersey Alcoholic Beverage License shall
be subject to the hours of operation of licensed liquor establishments as
set forth in the Borough Code. This subsection governs the operation of the
sexually oriented business as defined in this chapter, and does not control
the hours of operation of other permitted uses on the premises. (Authority:
N.J.S.A. 2C:33-12.2.)
(9)
For the prevention of the spread of sexually transmitted
disease, no partitions between subdivisions of a room, portion or part of
a building, structure or premises may have an aperture which is designed or
otherwise constructed to encourage sexual activity between persons on either
side of the partition.
(10)
No booths, stalls or partitioned portions of a room,
or individual rooms, used for the viewing of motion pictures or other forms
of entertainment shall have doors, curtains or portal partitions, but all
such booths, stalls, partitioned portions of a room, or individual rooms so
used shall have at least one side open to an adjacent public room so that
the area inside is visible to persons in the adjacent public room. All such
described areas shall be lighted in such a manner that the persons in the
areas used for viewing motion pictures or other forms of entertainment are
visible from the adjacent public rooms, but such lighting shall not be of
such intensity as to prevent the viewing of the motion pictures or other offered
entertainment.
A.
A person commits an offense if, in a sexually oriented
business establishment open to persons under the age of 18 years, he permits
obscene material to be disseminated to persons under the age of 18 years pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 2C:34-3 et seq.
B.
In this section "display" means to locate an item in
such a manner that, without obtaining assistance from an employee of the business
establishment:
C.
Defenses to prosecution under this section are provided
in N.J.S.A. 2C:34-3, Subsection e, and shall be incorporated herein as if
fully set forth.
This chapter shall be enforced by the Zoning Officer, Code Official
and/or any law enforcement officers of the State of New Jersey.
Any person or corporation who shall violate or fail to comply with the
provisions of this chapter shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000
or by imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.
