Item G1
Memorandum
W:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
Board of County Commissioners
K. Marlene Conaway, Director, Planning and Environmental Reso~
January 16, 2002
Preliminary Research on Adult Uses in Monroe County
Staff Report
I. Introduction
During its regular meeting on November 21, 2001 the Board of County Commissioners
directed the Planning department to prepare a report on adult businesses located within
the unincorporated areas of the County. The report was requested to include the
following information for use in determining the need for the regulation of adult
businesses:
1. The location of existing and proposed adult businesses in unincorporated Monroe
County.
2. The trade area of adult businesses
3. Evaluation of the impacts of adult businesses including:
a) incidence of crime
b) value of commercial properties surrounding the business
c) value of residential properties surrounding the business
4. Recommendations for potential locations and land use districts to minimize harmful
secondary effects.
This staff report will provide answers, cite previous research, and request further
direction for each of these requests. For the purposes of this report the definition of adult
business set forth in Resolution 464-2001 shall be used: "a commercial establishment
which, as its principle business purpose, offers for rental or sale sexually explicit material
or features sexually explicit or nude entertainment."
The use of studies from other communities to illustrate secondary impacts of adult uses
was upheld by the Supreme Court in City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc.
Throughout this report citations from other studies will serve to provide findings on the
impact of adult uses in other communities.
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II. Relevant History
In 1994 the County Attorney's office prepared a draft ordinance to restrict adult uses to
the Urban Commercial (DC) District. The ordinance defined separation distances of
1,000 feet from schools, churches, synagogues, other places devoted to religion,
restaurants, any residential land use district, or places where alcoholic beverages are sold
for consumption on premises. Additionally, the draft ordinance restricted the size,
location, and verbiage of signs associated with the adult use. Before the ordinance was
approved, the Planning Department undertook a study to determine what sites, if any,
were available for adult uses given the restrictions set forth in the draft ordinance. The
planning Staff found that no sites were available using the zoning and distance criteria set
forth above, and therefore the ordinance would violate the First Amendment. At the
time, the Planning Department presented other options to ameliorate any Constitutional
questions that may be raised by the draft ordinance. Most of the land found to be
available was located in what is now the City of Marathon. Two of the options presented
by the Planning Department offered a 500-foot separation criteria, however all the sites
are located in the Upper Keys. After discussion, the Development Review Committee
revised the draft ordinance to permit adult uses in only the Suburban Commercial (SC)
land use district rather than the UC district. The ordinance was then continued
indefinitely at the Development Review Committee meeting on July 25, 1995 pending
legal review.
III. Research Overview
Location of existing adult uses
There are two adult businesses within the unincorporated area of Monroe County. Both
are in the Key Largo area and both can be classified as 'adult bookstores' and do not
offer live entertainment. The name and address ofthe two adult businesses are:
1. Key Largo Adult Books and Video 102247 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, Mile
Marker 102.2
2. Adult Video Outlet Megastore 102700 Overseas Highway, Key Largo
Trade area
Determining the trade area of these two businesses presents a difficulty. It is possible to
record the license plate numbers of vehicles that patronize an adult establishment over a
predetermined amount of time and search registration records to determine where the
vehicles are registered, and assume that this is representative of the trade area of the
store. Addi~ionally, interviewing the store manager to find out where the store draws its
customers is possible. Both of these options are time consuming and may not give an
accurate picture of the trade area because they are on a major north/south tourist route.
The City of Austin, Texas performed a trade area analysis ofthree adult establishments, a
theater, bookstore, and topless bar by observing license plate numbers and checking
vehicle registration. It was found that none of the three businesses attract a significant
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number of customers from the immediate neighborhood. Forty-four percent (44%) of the
observed customers resided outside the City of Austin. 1
Imllacts of adult uses
The Monroe County Sheriff's office has been contacted with a request to provide crime
statistics regarding the two adult bookstores within the unincorporated areas. This
information should be received shortly. Statistics for the Adult Video Outlet Megastore
may be unavailable because it has recently opened for business in a building that
previously did not have an adult use.
Studies from other cities regarding crime incidence within the vicinity of adult uses have
conflicting results. A study of Denver, Colorado found that "the percentage of calls for
police service linked to disturbance, prowler and sex-related crimes was roughly the same
in the areas surrounding adult businesses as for the city as a whole"(p. 33)' Other studies
from Indianapolis, Newport News, and Whittier, California find that there is an increase
in crime surrounding adult uses. However the increase in crime appears in some studies
to be indistinguishable from patterns of increased crime related to other adult
entertainment enterprises which do not offer sexually oriented entertainment such as bars
and nightclubs. 3
The effect on the value of commercial and residential properties in the vicinity of adult
entertainment establishments has been wen-documented in studies from around the
nation. Only one of the adult establishments, Key Largo Adult Books and Video, in
unincorporated Monroe County has been open long enough to determine if there is an
impact on property values. The department will contact local real estate agents and
property appraisers to find their impressions of property values surrounding the adult
businesses.
The study from Austin, Texas surveyed 54 real estate appraisers and lenders and found
that a majority of the responses believed that no change in commercial Qr residential
property values would occur outside of a three block radius of an adult use
estab1ishment.4 The American Planning Association conducted a survey in Kansas City,
Missouri of 360 residents and business owners within the vicinity of different adult
establishments. When asked if there was a business in their neighborhood which is a
problem or not good for your neighborbood, 96% of the respondents identified a sexually
oriented business.s Additionally, the American Planning Association conducted a survey
of property appraisers in Rochester, New York to determine their perceptions of impacts
of specific businesses on residential and commercial property values. The surveys found
sex businesses. .'. Eric Kelly and Connie
sex businesses.. . .
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that bars with nude servers or live entertainers bave the greatest potential negative impact
on surrounding property values. Secondly, the survey found that sexually oriented
businesses bave a greater potential negative impact on neighboring property than other
types of businesses considered as undesirable neighborbood uses. The survey also found
that residential property values were more likely to be affected than commercial
properties and that the potential negative impacts stop somewhere between 1,000 and
1,500 feet.6
Recommendations
Most successful sexually oriented business regulations rely on the definitions set forth
under 'specified sexual activities' and specified anatomical areas'. They may be limited
to zones typically not compatible with residential use or heavy commercial uses, such as
an industrial zone, provided public access and infrastructure is available. The purpose of
the SC district is to serve the immediate planning area within which it is found and to
provide access not directly on US \. Sexually oriented uses mainly draw customers from
outside of their adjacent market area and with the restriction to be placed on US I the SC
district may not be an appropriate location for such uses. The UC district is very sparsely
located and many, if not all, of the UC areas are shopping centers which contain
supennarkets, libraries, and other stores which are required within a neighborhood.
Limiting sexually oriented uses to the Industrial district does not seem to pose any initial
problems otber than there is not very much of this type of zoning and no land zoned
Industrial exists in the Upper Keys. However, there only needs to be one area available
where these uses are allowed for it to be a legal regulation.
The minimum distance requirement must be adapted to serve the unique geography of
Monroe County. Many distance requirements in other regulations would restrict adult
uses to areas of submerged lands or off-shore islands in Monroe County! However,
adult uses should not be on the same block at a minimum, or at least 500 fect from
protected uses (schools, religious institutions, public parks etc.) The study done in 1994
on placing adult uses in the UC district used distances of 1,000 feet for the majority of the
separation distances and it was found that no parcels existed within those boundaries.
Adult uses that become non-conforming after new regulations are passed typically are
given a 90-day amortization period to cease and desist. Some municipalities grant up to
three years, and others require conditional use permits. The exception is Manatee
County, Florida that grants specific protection to adult uses rendered non-confonning.
6 Ibid.
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