Zoning regulations are among the more visible and controversial functions of local governments. Zoning has become the principal tool citizens and local governments use to manage urban growth and development and to protect the character of their communities. Few matters will pack a hearing room as quickly as a major rezoning proposal. But if there is a topic that generates more community interest and controversy than zoning, it may well be sexually oriented businesses.
Therefore, it is hardly surprising that zoning and other regulation of sexually oriented businesses produces tremendous public interest and debate, many local ordinances, and more than a few lawsuits. The upshot of this outpouring of concern has been a strong trend among local governments around the country and in North Carolina to regulate sexually oriented businesses, most often by significantly restricting their location.
Special use permits and special licensing requirements are also often used to impose restrictions on sexually oriented businesses that do not apply to other businesses. This Special Series publication examines the legal issues associated with government regulation of sexually oriented businesses. The second section addresses the question of what type of sexually oriented activity can be banned entirely.
The publication then devotes considerable attention in a third section to the type of restrictions most frequently used by local governmentsβzoning restrictions on the location of sexually oriented businesses. This third section examines how far the First Amendment allows local governments to go in restricting these businesses and what a local government must do to establish a proper legal foundation for its regulations.
The fourth section briefly reviews operational restrictions that can be imposed on sexually oriented businesses. Does the definition apply only to theaters that regularly screen X-rated movies, or does it also include screening movies that have any nudity presented?
