Town could complete adult business law by fall
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH - As local officials move towards wrapping up a comprehensive development plan for the Town of Bath, the original impetus for that plan - the desire to regulate adultoriented businesses within the municipality - could lead to special legislation by early fall.M

embers of the town board are reviewing a set of recommendations regarding adult businesses, drawn up by the ad hoc committee charged with developing the comprehensive plan. Town attorney Jeffrey Squires has also been instructed to draft legislation that would regulate the siting of any adult business.

Recommendations that could become codified in that legislation are:

• A minimum of 1,000 feet must separate the property line of an adult business from the property line of any entity identified as "sensitive." Those include family dwellings, schools, day care centers, places of worship, public parks and cemeteries.

• Adult businesses may only be located in areas of the town identified as "industrial zones."

• Adult businesses may have no outdoor signs or graphic image advertising the business other than a single identification sign that includes the name of the establishment.

The above recommendations are part of the draft comprehensive plan for the town, which can be viewed on the website of the Steuben County Planning Department (See related story on this page).

It was the opening of an adult products store on Worth Road in 2005 that led to the formation of the ad hoc land use committee. Town Supervisor Fred Muller charged the committee with developing a set of land use recommendations; at the same time Muller and town board members imposed a moratorium on all future adult businesses in the town. That moratorium remains in effect until October and could be extended another three months.