LA PALMA : City Revisits Law on Adult Businesses

The city has no adult businesses--and wants none, Mayor Duane Schuster said.

When the City Council meets Tuesday, it will revise an emergency measure it passed this month to control adult businesses that may seek to locate in the city, the mayor said.

On Dec. 5, the City Council enacted an ordinance to control public nudity and adult-oriented businesses. The council passed that law as an urgent measure that took effect immediately.

The action came after City Manager Daniel E. Keen told council members the city had received inquiries from representatives of an adult business.

City Atty. Joel Kuperberg told the council then that cities cannot flatly ban adult businesses because the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled they are constitutionally protected under the right to free speech. But, Kuperberg added, the high court has allowed cities to regulate adult businesses by restricting where they may be situated.

The ordinance requires, among other provisions, that an adult business must be at least 300 feet from residential areas.

Kuperberg said the location restriction effectively means that an industrial area is the only place such an enterprise could open.

Schuster said the revised ordinance to be considered Tuesday will contain almost identical language to the wording in the earlier measure and that any change will be “mainly a technicality.”