§ 24-4. Findings of fact.

The county has considered evidence and testimony presented at public hearings before the Okeechobee County Planning Board and the county commission, and based upon the findings incorporated in studies conducted by other governmental units, including but not limited to, the following studies prepared by other jurisdictions: Statistical synopsis of police calls to adult entertainment businesses (Stuart, Martin County, Florida, 1993); Statistical synopsis of police response calls to adult entertainment businesses in St. Lucie County (1993); Correspondence by Florida State University Professor, Margaret A. Baldwin, Esq., as testimony on scholarly research regarding an adult business, (Tallahassee, Florida, 1993); "Report on Adult Oriented Businesses in Austin," Texas (1985); "Adult Entertainment Businesses in Indianapolis, an Analysis," Indiana (1984); "The Impact of Adult Entertainment Centers on the Community of Tampa, Florida," (1982); "Study of the Effects of the Concentration of Adult Entertainment Establishments in the County of Los Angeles," California (1977); and findings of the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Department and the State Attorney's office detailing the secondary effects of and the potential for criminal activities associated with adult uses. The county further relies upon the findings incorporated in County of Renton v. Playtime Theaters, Inc., 475 U.S. 41, 106 S.Ct. 925, 89 L.Ed. 2d 29 (1986); Young v. American Mini-Theaters, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 96 S.Ct. 2440, 49 L.Ed. 2d 310 (1975); Bonnell, Inc. v. Board of Adjustments, 791 P.2d 107 (Okl. App. 1989); Colacurcio v. City of Kent, 163 F.3d 545 (9 ^th Cir 1998); Solitary, Inc., etc., v. Seminole County, 24 Fla. L. Weekly D139 (Fla. 5 ^th DCA January 15, 1999) and City of Erie et al. v. Pap's A. M., tdba "KandyLand", ____________ U.S. ____________ (Case 98-1161 March 29, 2000), and has considered such other public input, research, and legal analysis which the county commission relies upon and believes to be relevant to problems associated with adult uses. The county determines that the enactment of a time, place, and manner ordinance regulating and addressing the adverse secondary effects of adult entertainment uses is an appropriate exercise of the County's home rule power in the interest of the health, peace, safety, morals, and general welfare of the people of Okeechobee County, Florida. Specifically, the county commission finds and determines, based upon the foregoing, as follows:

(1)

Sexually oriented activities, including the sale of adult entertainment material and nude, semi-nude or topless dancing gives rise to prostitution, pandering, solicitation for prostitution, lewd behavior, exposing minors to harmful materials, possession, distribution, and transportation of obscene materials, sale or possession of controlled substances and violent crimes against persons or property;

(2)

When the sexual activities described in subsection (1) are actively marketed in commercial establishments, they tend to attract an undesirable number of transients, blight neighborhoods, adversely affect neighboring businesses, lower real property values, promote the particular crimes described above, and ultimately force residents and businesses to move to other locations;

(3)

The activities described in subsection (1) above often occur in establishments concurrent with the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages, which concurrence leads to a further increase in criminal activity, unsafe activity, and disturbances of the peace and order of the surrounding community and creates additional hazards to the health and safety of customers and workers and further depreciates the value of adjoining real property harming the economic welfare of the surrounding community and adversely effecting the quality of life, commerce, and community environment;

(4)

In order to preserve and safeguard the health, safety, property values, and general welfare of the people, businesses and industries of the county, it is necessary and advisable for the county to regulate the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages at adult entertainment establishments;

(5)

In order to preserve and safeguard the health, safety, property values, and general welfare of the people of the county, it is necessary and advisable for the county to regulate the conduct of owners, managers, operators, agents, workers, entertainers, performers, and customers at adult entertainment establishments;

(6)

The potential dangers to the health, safety, property values, and general welfare of the people of the county posed by allowing adult entertainment establishments to operate without first meeting the requirements for obtaining a permit under this Code are so great as to require the permitting of such establishments prior to their being authorized to operate;

(7)

Requiring operators of adult entertainment establishments to keep records of information concerning workers and certain recent past workers will help reduce the incidence of certain types of criminal behavior by facilitating the identification of potential witnesses or suspects, expediting the investigation of the transmission of certain communicable and social diseases, and by making it difficult for minors to work in such establishments;

(8)

Prohibiting adult entertainment establishments from operating within certain distances of educational institutions, religious institutions, residences, libraries, areas zoned or designated for residential use, parks, and other protected areas at which minors are customarily found, will serve to protect minors from the adverse effects of the activities that accompany such establishments;

(9)

Straddle dancing, unregulated private performances, or physical contact or touching within adult entertainment establishments poses a threat to the health of both customers and employees and promotes the spread of communicable and social diseases. Straddle dancing is deemed primarily conduct rather than communication or expression;

(10)

Adult entertainment establishments involve activities which are pure conduct engaged in for the purpose of making a profit, wherein speech or expressive activity is non-existent or incidental thereto, and are therefore subject to and require increased regulation to protect the health, welfare, and safety of the community;

(11)

Physical contact or touching within adult entertainment establishments between workers and/or customers, wherein specified anatomical areas are exhibited, poses a threat to the health of both and promotes the spread of communicable and social diseases.

(Ord. No. 2000-03, § 1, 5-25-00)