NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts – Capital Video [owned by Kenny Guarino] will have to wait until December to present its plans to the city’s Planning Board for an adult store on King Street.

The board voted last week to continue a public hearing on Capital Video’s project to Dec. 14 so that more members can participate.

David Wilensky, Frances C. Volkmann and Keith Wilson were all out of town, and Jennifer Dieringer recused herself because she lives near the site of the proposed store.

Capital Video, which wants to open a store selling sexually explicit DVDs, videotapes and magazines at 135 King St., was prepared to unveil its plans. However, the Planning Department cautioned that the plans will be moot if the City Council adopts three proposed zoning ordinances on Nov. 2.

One of the ordinances would limit the size of the display area for adult material to 1,000 square feet, a fraction of the area of the building the company wants to occupy. Another ordinance restricts the content of signs outside adult stores, and the third prohibits private viewing booths.

Capital Video has deleted the viewing booths from its original proposal, and said it will abide by the regulations concerning signs.

Michael Pill, a Shutesbury lawyer representing Capital Video, planned to contest the motion to continue the hearing, but relented after seeing that four board members were missing. He contends, however, that the board must call the hearing regardless of the zoning amendments because the only issue before it is the number of parking spaces.

Capital Video wants to increase the number of spaces from six to nine.

“The issue is, does the site plan meet the requirements of the zoning bylaws?” Pill asked yesterday.

The debate over the store and sexually explicit materials in general has been heated since Capital Video proposed the project last summer. Adam R. Cohen, who created the group, NoPornNorthampton, with wife Jendi Reiter, said he had a tense exchange with Anthony E. Nota, Capital Video’s representative, as the meeting was coming to an end.

“Mr. Nota approached me, and said, ‘Who are you smiling at?’ and I said, ‘You,'” Cohen said. Nota then used profanity against Cohen, Cohen said.

Pill said he did not hear the exchange, but urged all sides to act civilly.

“I’d hope that everybody can treat everybody in this like human beings,” he said.

From an earlier hearing in October on the issue- NORTHAMPTON – The dialogue over free speech, pornography and the thorny territory in between continued to play itself out until the last minute at the City Council meeting last night.

The council was scheduled to vote on three proposed zoning changes that would regulate the size and appearance of stores that sell adult material in most areas of the city. The most controversial measure seeks to limit the display area of adult merchandise to 1,000 square feet or less.

The other proposals would restrict the content of signs for adult stores and the visibility of merchandise from the outside. Voting on these amendments was pending at press time.

In a public comment session that featured 27 speakers, people explored the many ramifications of a proposal by Capital Video Corp. to locate a store selling pornography at 135 King St.

Residents of that neighborhood vigorously oppose the plan. Michael Kirby, who lives nearby on Summer Street, challenged people to put themselves in his place.

“Think of yourself as the people who are going to live with this next to your house or down the street,” he said.

Other speakers said they fear that the ordinances target Capital at the expense of free speech.

“I don’t really get what this is about,” said Bonnie Rose, who told the council she worked in the porn industry years ago. “Free speech is such a strong right in our society.”

Leverett lawyer Michael Pill introduced himself as Capital’s representative. He said that Capital was referred to him by a Northampton lawyer who did not want to take the company as a client for fear that he and his family would be harassed.

“It’s a sad comment on the state of American democracy when lawyers become justifiably frightened to take on representation of unpopular clients,” Pill said.

Capital, which maintains stores throughout New England, filed a new plan on Monday in an effort to grandfather the use of the King Street site as an adult store before the council could change the zoning laws. The plan changes the footprint of the lot by incorporating 15 square feet from the adjoining parcel.

Both parcels are owned by Barry G. Goldberg of Longmeadow.

According to Northampton Planning Director Wayne M. Feiden, Massachusetts is the only state in the country that allows prospective developers to freeze zoning laws by changing the plan in this way. However, he said the city does not believe adult uses are protected by the state law, a section of which excludes sexually explicit billboards and other adult uses.

The city is consulting with Concord lawyer Mark Bobrowski, who specializes in land uses and zoning.

Neither Goldberg nor Anthony Nota, who is named as Capital’s representative on the application form, could be reached for comment.

Although Goldberg co-signed the new plan, he cannot actually transfer the land from his other property to Capital without a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, according to Feiden. Because the lot lacks sufficient size, the zoning board would deny the variance, Feiden said.

“This is a plan you couldn’t possibly do,” he said.