East Lyme – from www.theday.com – Adult bookstores, video stores, strip clubs, escort services and other racy establishments are now allowed in this town by special permit.

The Zoning Commission unanimously voted Thursday to regulate adult businesses in East Lyme and tacked on more than a few restrictions.

An applicant wanting to open an adult establishment must apply for a special permit, and it can only be placed in light industrial zones. Additionally, adult establishments must be more than 900 feet from a residential area, school, church, hospital, library, licensed-care facility, public park or any other adult business.

The commission held a public hearing to discuss the regulation before voting on it. Although advertised in the newspaper and posted on the commission’s agenda, no one from the community attended the hearing.

Commission members called the regulations “preventative” and said it was time that the town had better controls on the use of adult establishments.

The regulation makes it so that adult businesses like strip clubs, theaters, escort services and sex shops are only allowed in very specific places, perhaps in an area like Colton Road in the western end of town, commission members said.

”We’re trying to be proactive and get ahead of a future application that might come in,” said Mark Nickerson, commission chairman.

Nickerson said there has never been an application for an adult establishment and said he isn’t aware of any that are forthcoming.

There are no adult entertainment entities in the town.

”Some commission members thought this needed to be addressed,” Zoning Official William Mulholland said. “The point is to regulate it because the town never did before.”

The Zoning Commission worked on the new regulation for about six months. Members formed a subcommittee to study the issue and made comparisons with other towns.