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Town of Johnston, RI
Providence County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[Added 6-9-1997 by Ord. No. 1004]
[Amended 6-14-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-9]
The terms used in this article shall be defined as in Chapter 83, Adult Entertainment, of this Code.
Adult entertainment uses shall be prohibited in all zoning districts in Johnston except in the industrial zones of the Town and only upon the grant of a special use permit by the Johnston Zoning Board of Review in accordance with §§ 340-75 and 340-76 of this chapter. Additionally, such a special use permit shall not be granted unless each of the following standards have been met:
A. 
The application for a special use permit pursuant to this article 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. 
Location.
(1) 
All uses granted under this article shall not be located within:
(a) 
One thousand feet from the nearest residential zoning district, lot line of a residence which is a nonconforming use in a nonresidential zone in existence as of the effective date of this article, and B-1 or B-2 zoning business district; or
(b) 
One thousand five hundred feet from the nearest house of worship, school, park, playground, play field, youth center, licensed day-care center, or other location where groups of minors regularly congregate; or
(c) 
Two thousand feet from the nearest adult entertainment establishment or sexually oriented business use as defined herein;
(d) 
One thousand feet from any establishment having a liquor license granted by the Town of Johnston or any other municipality; or
(e) 
One thousand feet from any of the Johnston Town lines.
(2) 
The distances specified above shall be measured by a straight line from the nearest property line of the premises on which the proposed adult entertainment establishment or sexually oriented business use is to be located to the nearest boundary line of a residential zoning district or to the nearest property line of any of the other designated uses set forth above.
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 use shall be allowed to display for advertisement or other purposes 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 or transparent material any explicit figures or words concerning specified anatomical areas or sexual activities as defined herein.
E. 
No use permitted under this article 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. 
No use permitted under this article shall be allowed within a building containing other retail, consumer or residential uses.
G. 
No use permitted under this article shall be allowed within a shopping plaza, shopping center, or shopping mall.
H. 
All uses permitted under this article shall comply with the off-street parking and loading requirements and regulations in Articles VI and VII of this chapter.
I. 
No use permitted under this article shall be allowed to have any flashing lights visible from outside the establishment.
J. 
No use permitted under this article shall be allowed a freestanding accessory sign.
K. 
No use permitted under this article shall be established prior to submission and approval of a site plan by the Zoning Board of Review with the technical advice of the Town zoning official. The site plan shall depict all existing and proposed buildings, parking spaces, driveways, service areas and other open uses. The site plan shall show the distances between the proposed use and the boundary of the nearest residential zoning district and the property line of all other abutting uses.
L. 
All uses permitted under this article shall comply fully with all licensing requirements of the Town of Johnston, including but not limited to all business and entertainment license requirements.
The Johnston Zoning Board of Review may impose reasonable conditions, safeguards and limitations on time or use of any special use permit granted under this article and shall require that any such special use permit granted herein shall be personal to the applicant, shall not run with the land and shall expire upon sale or transfer of the subject property.
A special use permit granted under this article shall expire after a period of one calendar year from its date of issuance and shall be automatically renewable for successive one-year periods thereafter, provided that a written request for such renewal is made to the Johnston Zoning Board of Review and that no objection to said renewal is made and sustained by the Johnston Zoning Board of Review based upon the public safety factors applied at the time that the original special use permit was granted pursuant to § 340-79 above.
Each adult entertainment establishment and sexually oriented business in existence upon the initial reading date of this article shall apply for a special use permit within 90 days of the adoption of this article.