Over the summer, Boone County refreshed regulation and licensing requirements for sexually oriented businesses like adult bookstores, video stores or cabaret. Now, Florence is seeking to do the same.
“As you know, prior to 2007, zoning regulations in the Florence Code of Ordinances did not allow, in any form, a sexually oriented business to operate in the county or city,” Florence Administration Director/City Administrator Joshua Hunt said during Tuesday’s special city council meeting. “In 2007, the city, in conjunction with Boone County Fiscal Court, passed the first sexually-oriented business license requirements and zoning regulations.”
The proposed action to repeal and replace Chapter 119 of the Code of Ordinances amending licensing requirements and regulations for sexually oriented businesses and employees in Florence was characterized by Hunt as a housekeeping measure.
“Within the past few months the Boone County Fiscal Court updated their ordinance to be in compliance with current laws and tonight that’s what we’re doing,” Hunt said.
Proposed major changes to regulation and licensing include, according to Hunt:
- Definitions are more clearly defined and expanded.
- Hearing officers are now appointed by the city council and not the mayor.
- Licensing requirements have been tightened.
“That’s mostly the disclosure of past criminal activity involving sexually oriented businesses and/or if the applicant has been convicted of any sex crimes,” Hunt said.
- More specific time requirements are proposed for the issuance of a license.
“The biggest thing there was in the past ordinance, the city administrator had to render a decision within 20 days,” Hunt said. “That has been moved to 30 days.”
- A new fee schedule was proposed.
- Language has been added to give the city of Florence code enforcement department the ability to make routine inspections and issue citations.
- Revocation of licensing, rules and regulations have been tightened.
- The city administrator has 30 days to issue or deny a license.
- An applicant who is denied a license has 10 days to appeal.
- The applicant has 30 days to have a hearing on the appeal.
- A provisional license may be issued pending an appeal.
“The biggest thing there is, as it relates to the hearing process, there were some major revisions,” Hunt said. “We don’t want to have differentiating ordinances or licensing procedures than what Boone County Fiscal Court has.”
The action would place the city’s ordinance in present compliance and guide how a sexually oriented business license applicant would need to approach the licensing process, officials said.
Council member Lesley Chambers expressed concerns with a portion of the proposed ordinance change.
“If you have someone who is wanting to work a legitimate job and they have, in the past, had a run in with the law, we’re not giving them that second chance to go straight with their working record – because of things they’ve done in the past,” Chambers said. “I just don’t see a reason why if someone has a conviction for something previously, in the past five years, that they shouldn’t be allowed to dance.”
The changes being proposed to the ordinance bring it current with laws that are now in effect in other areas in Boone County and in compliance with decisions made in court cases involving sexually oriented businesses, Council member Patricia Wingo said.
If it is ruled a license applicant would not be granted a license, an appeal process in which the party would appear before a committee to make a case would be at their disposal, Hunt said.
“That’s the way it’s written, unless council has an appetite to change that,” Hunt said. “If somebody has been convicted of prostitution, for example, that’s a pretty good rationale for denying a license.”