Tennessee- [.murfreesboropost.com]- Rutherford County should have 20 to 30 sites where an adult-oriented business could operate, a consultant told a group of local officials Monday.
Municipalities can restrict where these types of businesses can open, but “you must allow for a reasonable number of sites,” said Eric Damian Kelly, a professor of urban planning at Ball State University.
“Courts have made it clear that you have to make room for these businesses in your community,” he said.
Kelly spoke during a special joint meeting between the Murfreesboro City Council and the Murfreesboro Planning Commission to provide some insight into the “negative secondary effects” that adult-oriented businesses can pose to a community as the city prepares to amend the ordinance regulating these businesses, said David Ives, assistant city attorney.
These “negative secondary effects” include increased crime, reduced property values and lower quality of life.
The city is looking to amend its ordinance regulating adult-oriented businesses to include evidence of “negative secondary effects” and to classify adult businesses as those where adult merchandise makes up 20 percent or more of total revenues.
Murfreesboro restricts adult businesses to properties zoned heavy industrial and not within 1,000 feet of a school, church, park, store selling alcohol or city-owned property.
The Murfreesboro Planning Commission will host a public hearing on proposed amendments Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the first floor of Murfreesboro City Hall.
The city of Murfreesboro filed a lawsuit against Raymond Vincent Bohannon, owner of adult video store 21 Up Movies & More in February for unlawfully opening the businesses in a commercial highway district of Northwest Broad Street in September 2006.
Bohannon countersued contending the city of Murfreesboro’s definition of “adults-only bookstore” contained in its zoning ordinance is “unconstitutional and unenforceable” and that the Tennessee Supreme Court struck down the same language used by the city of Knoxville.
With the growth of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and the number of blue collar jobs, Kelly said the community should expect to see more adult businesses attempt to enter the market.