North County : 2 Cities Take Action to Regulate Adult Shows

With a green light from the U.S. Supreme Court, two north Orange County cities are moving ahead with plans to regulate adult entertainment in their communities.

In Placentia, where a businessman’s request last year to open an adult peep show caused a furor among some residents, the City Council on Tuesday night extended a moratorium on adult-entertainment uses.

The five-month extension was granted to give the city attorney a chance to review a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Placentia Development Services Director Joyce Rosenthal said. In a Feb. 25 ruling, the court upheld the right of a community to restrict locations for adult movie theaters through zoning laws.

In neighboring Yorba Linda, where there are no adult businesses, officials gave their initial approval Monday night to an ordinance regulating adult entertainment, should any such businesses apply to locate there.

The Yorba Linda ordinance, scheduled for final approval later this month, requires such businesses as adult bookstores and cabarets to apply for a permit. The proposal would ban such businesses--”characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to ‘specified sexual activities’ or ‘specified anatomical areas’ “--from operating within 500 feet of any residential district, school, park, playground, church, civic or cultural building.

Meanwhile, in Placentia, City Council members also adopted an ordinance to regulate figure-modeling, escort services and introductory services. In January, the council had adopted an ordinance to regulate peep shows, where customers pay for individual screenings of adult movies in booths.

The peep show ordinance stemmed from a request--which was denied--by a businessman who wanted to open a shop in Atwood Plaza on Orangethorpe Avenue. The request from Dynavid Ltd. Inc. became the catalyst for the ordinances passed Tuesday by the Placentia council.

Yorba Linda officials, concerned that a similar request could come before them, began working on an adult-entertainment ordinance shortly after learning of the negative community reaction to Dynavid’s appeal in Placentia.