Ventura May Ban New Permits for Adult Businesses : Zoning: Licenses for the companies would be delayed while officials consider amendments to the city’s codes.

The Ventura City Council is poised to adopt a temporary ordinance tonight banning adult bookstores and theaters until officials have a chance to decide where the businesses should be located.

Under the plan that will be before council members at their 7:30 p.m. meeting, no adult-oriented business can obtain an operating license for at least 45 days while officials are considering amendments to the city’s zoning codes.

The ordinance was formulated in response to a recent proposal to build an adult bookstore near the county superintendent of schools’ office on Main Street in Ventura, a bid that the city was powerless to stop because its codes did not address adult-oriented businesses.

Although the landlords of a vacant building on Main Street decided against renting the space to the adult bookstore, the proposal caused a furor among downtown merchants and church groups, who urged the council to take long-term action to restrict such businesses.

The city has only one adult bookstore, Three Star Books on Main Street.

“We want to attract more families from the east end to the downtown area,” said Dee Frisbie, president of a downtown merchants group. “Another adult bookstore would take us a step backward instead of forward.”

According to the ordinance, Ventura officials could spend up to two years studying the issue before lifting the ban. The council must vote by a margin of at least 5-2 to implement the measure.

If passed, the ban would also limit the ability of an existing adult-oriented operation to relocate or expand, but would have no other limiting effect on any existing business.

Councilman Gary Tuttle said that if the council decides to move ahead with the restrictions, figuring out where the business can locate will not be easy.

“The east end doesn’t want them,” Tuttle said. “I will fight to keep them out of downtown. What part of the city do you say, ‘OK, put it there.’ In the long run the city will be wide open as it is now to put it anywhere you want.”

He said the best way to keep the adult uses out of the city is to encourage landlords not to rent to them.

“We have to work with the property owners to convince them that it is not in their best interest,” Tuttle said. “We will chase that kind of business all over town until they give up.”

After a barrage of calls from Ventura officials, downtown businesses and several church groups, the owners of the building at 565 E. Main St. last week decided to halt lease negotiations with a Woodland Hills company that wanted to build an adult bookstore.

In return, the landlords are asking the city and downtown merchants to help them find another tenant.

“I think the landlords should use some discretion,” Councilman James L. Monahan said.

However, Monahan said he doesn’t believe that the city should regulate adult-oriented businesses.

“If the merchants are together, they should have enough tools to keep their neighborhood in decent form,” he said.

But Councilman Todd J. Collart said the city should at least look into permanently restricting the controversial businesses. He said the temporary ban is essential.

“It gives up some breathing room to study the issue without running the risk of a stampede,” Collart said. “If you take steps to try to curtail them, they will rush in and take out licenses without us being able to stop them.

“We need to buy time to see what other jurisdictions have done and to review the law,” Collart said.

In September, Oxnard passed an emergency ordinance banning adult bookstores and movie theaters along the “gateways” of the city. Oxnard officials are now studying further restrictions.

Ventura plans to use the Oxnard ordinance as a model, along with similar ordinances in Garden Grove, Whittier and the Arizona cities of Phoenix and Tucson, said Everett Millais, the city’s director of community development.

“The courts have upheld ordinances that set minimum distances between the stores and parks and schools,” Millais said. “They have also upheld ordinances that concentrate these types of uses.”