Foes of Pornography Attend Meeting to Oppose Measure : Ventura: The City Council was expected to debate proposal limiting adult stores. But by late evening, the hearing had not begun.

A law that would permit adult-oriented businesses to open only in Ventura’s industrial districts was scheduled for debate late Monday by the City Council.

A smattering of anti-pornography activists attended the meeting to oppose the proposed new law, but by late evening, the hearing had not begun.

If approved by the council, the ordinance would still require a second vote next week.

The new law would prohibit book and video stores specializing in pornographic materials, as well as other sexually oriented businesses, from locating within 500 feet of a church, school, home or other area frequented by children.

That would limit the businesses to select city blocks, planners say. The ordinance favors locating adult businesses south of the Ventura Freeway, between Victoria and Arundell avenues, and a few smaller areas.

Before the meeting, most council members said they thought that the proposal was fair and well drafted and that they planned to vote for it.

But opponents insisted that the law was a bad idea. “I would like a stronger ordinance,” Ventura resident Ken Rose said. “I would think a total ban would be appropriate.”

The city cannot ban adult businesses entirely because that would violate owners’ First Amendment constitutional rights, state and federal high courts have ruled.

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The city Planning Commission, which approved the proposal last week, asked planners to research whether the city can order the businesses to be as little as 100 feet apart to avoid creating a red-light district that lures illicit activity.

City staff members, however, said it might not be legal to further limit the sites available to adult businesses, because so few are acceptable under the ordinance.

Ventura city officials first considered an adult-oriented business law two years ago, when residents and Main Street merchants raised a furor over the proposed opening of an adult business near the old Ventura County superintendent of schools office.

The city was powerless to halt the business because there were no laws prohibiting sexually oriented businesses. The business, which never opened due to public pressure, would have joined Three Star Books as Main Street’s second adult-oriented business.

The City Council soon approved a temporary ordinance banning all such businesses except the existing one while city planners researched the issue.

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The new ordinance affects only future businesses and exempts Three Star Books. Merchants neighboring Three Star Books say the business has been low-key and discreet.

Some business owners in the industrial sites south of the freeway, where new adult-oriented businesses could open, said the proposed law is not an issue for them.

Many run warehouses or other types of businesses that do not rely on much foot traffic and do not attract children.