§ 44. ADULT ORIENTED BUSINESS.

A.

Purpose and Intent. It is the purpose and intent of this section to regulate adult oriented businesses to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of Mohave County and to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent any deleterious location and concentration of adult oriented businesses within the County, thereby reducing or eliminating the adverse secondary effects from such businesses. The provisions of this section have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is neither the intent nor effect of this section to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market. Neither is it the intent nor effect of this section to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.

B.

Definitions. For the purposes of this section, definitions contained in A.R.S. § 11-811(D) apply for this section.

C.

Establishment and Classification of Businesses Regulated. The establishment of an Adult Oriented Business shall be permitted only in C-2H, C-M, C-MO, M-1, M-2 and M-X zones and shall be subject to the following restriction:

1.

No person shall cause or permit the establishment of any adult oriented businesses, as defined above, within 1,000 feet of another such business, or within one-fourth of a mile of any child care facility, religious institution, a private, public or charter school, public playground, public recreational facility, a residence, boys' club, girls' club, or similar existing youth organization, or public park or public building.

2.

An adult oriented business lawfully operating in conformity with this section does not violate this section if a child care facility, a private, public or charter school, a public playground, a public recreational facility, a residence or a place of worship subsequently locates within one-fourth mile of the adult oriented business.

D.

Measurement of Distance. As regarding Section 3, paragraph A, distance between any two adult oriented businesses shall be measured in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures, from the closest exterior structural wall of each business. The distance between any adult oriented business and any religious institution, public or private elementary or secondary school, boys' club, girls' club, or similar existing youth organization, or public park or public building or any properties zoned for residential use or used for residential purposes shall also be measured in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects from the nearest portion of the building or used as part of the premises where the adult oriented business is conducted, to the nearest property line of the premises of a religious institution, public or private elementary or secondary school, boys' club, girls' club, or similar existing youth organization, or public park or public building or any properties zoned for residential use or used for residential purposes.

E.

Regulations Governing Existing Adult Oriented Businesses.

1.

Any adult oriented businesses lawfully operating on May 17, 1995, that is in violation of this section shall be deemed a nonconforming use. Nonconforming uses shall be governed by Section 45 of this Ordinance. If two or more adult oriented businesses are within 1,000 feet of one another and otherwise in a permissible location, the adult oriented business which was first established and continually operating at the particular location is the conforming use and the later established business(es) is nonconforming.

2.

An adult oriented business lawfully operating as a conforming use is not rendered a nonconforming use by the location, subsequent to the grant of a adult oriented business permit, of a church, public or private elementary or secondary school, public park, public building, residential district, or residential lot within 1,000 feet of the adult oriented business.

F.

Regulations Pertaining to Exhibition of Sexually Explicit Films or Videos in Video Booths.

1.

A person who operates or causes to be operated an adult oriented business, other than a sexually oriented motel/hotel, which exhibits on the premises, in a viewing room of less than 150 square feet of floor space, a film, video cassette or other video production which depicts specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, shall comply with the following requirements:

a.

Upon application for building permit, the application shall be accompanied by a diagram of the premises showing a plan thereof specifying the location of all overhead lighting fixtures and designating any portion of the premises in which patrons will not be permitted. 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 and should be drawn to a designated scale with marked 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.

b.

The application shall be sworn to be true and correct by the applicant.

c.

No viewing room may be occupied by more than one person at any one time. A door may be attached or installed on any viewing room.

d.

The premises shall be equipped with overhead lighting fixtures of sufficient intensity to illuminate every place to which patrons are permitted access and an illumination of not less than two foot candle as measured at the floor level.

e.

It shall be the duty of the owners and operator and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present on the premises to insure that the illumination described above is maintained at all times that any patron is present on the premises.

G.

Advertising Regulations.

1.

The permittee shall not allow any depiction of specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas to be visible from the exterior of the premises.

2.

All off-street parking areas and premises entries of the adult oriented business shall be illuminated from dusk to closing hours of operation with a lighting system which provides an average maintained horizontal illumination of one foot candle of light on the parking surface and/or walkways. This required lighting level is established in order to provide sufficient illumination of the parking areas and walkways serving the adult oriented business for the personal safety of patrons and employees. The lighting shall be shown on the required sketch or diagram of the premises.

H.

Hours of Operation. It shall be unlawful to operate, permit or cause to be operated an adult oriented business contrary to A.R.S. § 13-1422(B).

I.

Severability. If any section, subsection or clause of this ordinance shall be deemed to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the validity of the remaining sections, subsections and clauses shall not be affected thereby.

J.

Conflicting Section Repealed. If two or more ordinance provisions are or appear to be in conflict, the more restrictive shall apply.