18906I ORDINANCE NO. 18.906
2
3 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND LITTLE ROCK, REV. CODE § 17 -214
4 (1988) TO ADD DAYCARE CENTERS TO THE SETBACK
5 REQUIREMENTS FOR SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES; TO
6 DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
7
8 WHEREAS, the City carefully reviewed the question of whether to impose any
9 restrictions on the location of sexually oriented businesses within the City, considered
to studies from other similar communities including Abilene, Texas, and Austin, Texas,
11 and after a public hearing concluded that it would be better to utilize certain spacing
12 requirements between these businesses in order to protect property values, reduce
13 crime, and overcome the negative secondary effects that such businesses have been
14 shown to produce, and
15 WHEREAS, to memorialize these conclusions the City passed Little Rock, Ark.,
16 Ordinance No. 15,629 (January 17, 1989), which establishes a 750 -foot setback
17 requirement between these businesses and certain other uses such as a public or private
18 elementary, secondary or post- secondary school, and
19 WHEREAS, the City considered whether to include daycare centers at the time
20 within this particular setback requirement, but concluded that it was not necessary to
21 do so, perhaps because many daycare facilities were already located within residential
22 neighborhoods, and
23 WHEREAS, the location of daycare centers has changed, and the City has
24 revisited the question of whether it is appropriate to require that sexually oriented
25 businesses be set back from daycare facilities, and after a public hearing on the topic
26 held on July 15, 2003, has concluded that such a requirement is appropriate, and
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Amendment to include daycares
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1 WHEREAS, before doing so the City has reviewed the maps of the corporate
2 limits of the City and determined that with the addition of daycares to the current
3 setback requirements there will still be over five percent (5 %) of the eligible land within
4 the City available for rental or purchase by the operators of a sexually oriented
5 business, and
6 WHEREAS, the City has reviewed ordinances from other jurisdictions and
7 determined that setback requirements which include daycare centers are in place in
8 other parts of the Country, and
9 WHEREAS, the City has also reviewed additional studies from cities that have
10 daycare listed as one of the setback requirements in a sexually oriented business
11 ordinance, and has concluded that there is some reason to avoid the secondary effects of
12 such a business around a daycare center, and
13 WHEREAS, the City has carefully crafted its sexually oriented business
14 ordinance, and has successfully defended it against constitutional attack in the case of
15 Ambassador Books & Video, Inc. v. City of Little Rock, 20 F.3d 858 (81h Cir. 1994), and has
16 worked very hard throughout this process to assure compliance with the mandate in
17 that case, the precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue, and compliance with
18 the U.S. Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution, so that this zoning issue is one
19 directed for the public health, safety and welfare, and is not designed to curb speech,
20 and
21 WHEREAS, part of this care is demonstrated by the fact that when the question
22 of whether to add daycare centers to the setback requirements was first raised, the
23 Board of Directors and the City Manager directed staff to review the current ordinance,
24 to prepare digital geographic information system maps to determine the amount of
25 available space for the location of such a business, to review the ordinances of other
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Amendment to include dayaama
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1 jurisdictions, to review studies of other jurisdictions, and to hold an announced public
2 hearing on the question of whether to add this definition, and
3 WHEREAS, after all of this review and study the Board of Directors has
4 determined that it is appropriate to include daycare facilities in the setback requirement
5 of facilities from which sexually oriented businesses must be set back.
6 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
7 OF THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS:
8 Section 1. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 17 -214 (a) (2) (1988) is hereby
9 amended to read as follows:
10 (2) A public or private elementary, secondary or post- secondary school,
11 or a daycare center.
12 Section 2. The Board of Directors expresses its opinion that codifiers of the
13 Little Rock Code of Ordinances should include this definition, and that for sexually
14 oriented businesses in general, in the zoning section of the code as opposed to the
15 business regulation section of the code.
16 Section 3. The Board of Directors notes that the phrase "daycare center' as
17 used in this ordinance has the same meaning as that provided in Little Rock, Ark., Rev.
18 Code § 36 -3 (1988).
19 Section 4. Severability. In the event any title, section, paragraph, item,
20 sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid
21 or unconstitutional, such declaration or adjudication shall not affect the remaining
22 portions of the ordinance which shall remain in full force and effect as if the portion so
23 declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional was not originally a part of the
24 ordinance.
25 Section 5. Repealer. All ordinances, resolutions, bylaws, and other matters
26 inconsistent with this ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.
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1 Section 6. Emergency. The ability to protect the general public health, safety, and
2 welfare, with a uniform system for the location of sexually oriented businesses is essential to the
3 functioning of a municipality, and care should be taken to assure that any such regulation
4 balances any constitutional rights of the owners and patrons of such a business, and the rights of
5 the citizens in general to be free from the negative secondary effects of such a business, further,
6 the ability for business owners and investors, or potential owners and investors, to be aware of
7 the limited restrictions on setback set forth in the Little Rock ordinance on sexually oriented
8 businesses is also crucial, therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this ordinance which
9 includes day care centers to the listed businesses for setback purposes shall be in full force and
10 effect from and after the date of its passage.
11 PASSED: AUGUST 4, 2003
12 ATTEST: APPROVED:
13
14 14Z Ayj _ _
15 Nancy Vood, Cify Clerk Jim lbatey, Mayor
16
17 APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
18
19 A-e-L � r--
20 Thomas M. Carpenter, City Attorney
21 H
22 H
23 H
24 H
25 H
26 H
27 H
28 H
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Amendment to include daynrcs
from seavally oriented business setbacks