WESTMINSTER : Adult-Business Ban Extended by Council

The City Council has voted to extend a moratorium on new adult businesses for one year.

At its meeting Tuesday, the council unanimously voted to extend the ban on such businesses so the city can review and update “inadequate and out-of-date” city codes, said Mike Bouvier, planning and building manager.

Current codes predate several recent court decisions that define what control cities may exercise over adult businesses, such as adult bookstores and theaters, Bouvier said. Also, he said, the codes do not address secondary problems such as crime and prostitution that adult businesses may generate.

“At the present time, our ordinance does not give us the tools to deal with those kinds of problems,” he said. The revised ordinance will be “constitutional, legally defensible and give us better tools” to mitigate the effects and possibly allow the city to shut down problem businesses.

The council first approved the moratorium last August and extended it in September. Bouvier said the moratorium would have ended before the next council meeting, so the council approved the yearlong extension as an “urgency ordinance,” which took effect immediately.

He also said the city may end the moratorium earlier, depending on when the new regulations are put in place.