CYPRESS : City Extends Curbs on X-Rated Commerce

Because permanent regulations are still being studied and drafted, the city has extended for a year its interim controls over adult, or X-rated, businesses.

Courts have held that cities cannot totally outlaw adult businesses. But court decisions do allow cities to have zoning controls over such enterprises.

City staff members have been working for more than a year to draft permanent zoning controls that would limit locations of adult businesses. While the work on permanent regulations is in process, the city has had interim controls.

The interim measures would have expired last week, but the City Council on April 24 unanimously voted to extend the temporary controls another year.

City planning staff officials said Cypress has no adult business. But they said the permanent regulations are being readied in case there are future applications.

The city’s interim ordinance notes that several large cities, including Los Angeles, have made studies of adverse effects of adult-oriented businesses. The ordinance says the studies have found that adult businesses “tend to result in the blighting and downgrading of the areas in which they are located.”