Licensing Ordinances as an Adjunct to Zoning Regulation of Sexually Oriented Adult Entertainment Businesses (Part II)

Because zoning ordinances can only control the location and size of sexually-oriented adult entertainment businesses, many local governments are turning to licensing as an adjunct to zoning in order to achieve more effective control over the potential that these businesses may cause negative secondary effects. While a licensing ordinance can be an effective regulatory tool, it will be subjected to strict scrutiny if challenged because it imposes a prior restraint on expressive activity. Communities seeking to enact such ordinances must, therefore, draft such ordinances with great precision to avoid procedural and substantive flaws. This two part article first provides an overview of adult entertainment regulations generally, and licensing in particular, then discusses the problems that have proved most troublesome when communities enact licensing of sexually-oriented businesses. (Vol. 22, no. 1, January 1999). Part II provides suggested provisions for the text of a licensing ordinance with supporting commentary. (Vol. 22., no. 3, March 1999).