MISSION VIEJO : Panel Shaping Law on Adult Businesses
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The Planning Commission, which is working on an ordinance to restrict adult businesses, has set May 27 for a public workshop on the issue.
“Developing a law that respects First Amendment rights of free speech and expression while protecting the community isn’t easy,” Commissioner Norman Murray said. “But we’re not going to sit around and do nothing. That’s not an option.”
The City Council in March passed an urgency ordinance restricting adult businesses to a small area near Marguerite and Avery parkways. The urgency ordinance will expire next year.
Meanwhile, the Planning Commission is working on a permanent law to replace it. Murray said a consensus on some aspects of the ordinance is crystallizing. It is likely that the businesses would not be restricted to a single area, he said, because that would anger residents there and it may not be legally defensible. The commission and city staff are also weighing how far such businesses must be from day-care centers, churches and schools.
About 20 people attended a previous public workshop “and they had some good ideas,” Murray said, including a proposal to bar signs for adult businesses from facing the street.
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