Yorba Linda : Move Planned to Curb Adult Entertainment

To avoid a situation similar to one that neighboring Placentia is facing, officials in Yorba Linda next month will consider a law that one councilman said “would effectively prohibit adult entertainment establishments.” On Jan. 7, Placentia is scheduled to give final approval to an ordinance that sets strict criteria on peep-show establishments. The same day, the City Council will hear an appeal from an applicant who wants to open such a business but was turned down by the Placentia Planning Commission, which cited inadequate parking.

Placentia officials decided to create the new criteria for such businesses after a request was filed to set up a peep-show establishment with 60 booths for private viewing of adult movies. Yorba Linda officials said they would like to create a new ordinance before any requests reach the council.

“I’m going to do everything I can to see that we effectively prohibit them in Yorba Linda,” said Councilman Henry Wedaa, who introduced the request last week for an ordinance on adult entertainment establishments. “I would like to get an ordinance which would effectively prohibit adult entertainment establishments of the type currently being considered for the city of Placentia,” Wedaa said.

Mayor Michael Beverage agreed and said the city attorney will draw up an ordinance that will set criteria for adult entertainment ranging from “the sale of literature to live shows to movies.”

Beverage said he doesn’t expect the ordinance to affect the sale of magazines such as Playboy, but instead be geared toward “hard-core pornography or entertainment.”

Councilman Gene Wisner said the council will need to be careful and set forth criteria that are constitutional.

“There’s no way in the world that I want things like that in the city of Yorba Linda,” Wisner said. “If there is a way (to restrict them), I want our city to find it.”