Interim Law Passed on Adult Businesses

A sweeping new ordinance that regulates such adult entertainment as adult bookstores and nude dancing is now in effect across the city.

Though Cypress has no adult businesses, the City Council this week passed a so-called urgency measure that immediately became law and will apply to any that seek to open in the city.

“The intent . . . is to address what are termed ‘adverse secondary effects’ that are caused by adult businesses,” City Atty. John E. Cavanaugh said.

Such effects, he said in a written report, include increases in crime near the locations of adult businesses.

Cities may not outlaw adult businesses, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled are protected under the Constitution.

Municipalities may regulate them, however, by requiring that they be located only in certain parts of town and prohibiting them in close proximity to parks, schools, churches and homes, Cavanaugh said.

A permanent ordinance being drafted by the city’s staff would allow adult businesses no closer than 1,000 feet to those areas and would restrict them to a 13-acre business and industrial zone in south Cypress. The area includes land adjoining the Los Alamitos Racetrack.

Councilwomen Gail H. Kerry and Mary Ann Jones opposed including that land, saying that the area is also zoned for churches.

But Cavanaugh said that if a church were to be built there, the ordinance would automatically limit the location of adult businesses to 1,000 feet from the new church.