Focus on adult biz law
Town of Bath
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH — Bath town Supervisor Fred Muller last week estimated the town board will draft a local law regulating the future location of any adult business in the municipality by the end of the year.

The law would require approval by a majority of the town board members, Muller added, and probably will require a three-month extension of the moratorium now in effect on adult businesses.

Work on the law continues in the aftermath of the town board's passage earlier this month of a comprehensive plan to guide future development in the town. Board members approved the plan unanimously at their regular meeting Aug. 11, held in the Bath fire station. Muller said the land use law would be based on recommendations contained in that plan.

The supervisor, however, cautioned any new law would probably have little if any impact on an adult products store that opened in 2005 on Worth Road. The store opened prior to the existence of any local law regulating adult businesses; attempting to apply the new law to an existing business could expose the town to litigation, Muller said.

"I want to avoid potential litigation, and I'm sure there would be litigation because he's already there," Muller told The Courier.

Town attorney Jeffrey Squires already has submitted samples of adult business laws passed by other municipalities for town councilmen to review. The town will also refer to restrictions passed by the Village of Bath, although he noted the village law utilizes a municipal zoning code, which the town does not have.

Recommendations in the town's comprehensive plan for regulations restricting the location of adult businesses can be found on a website maintained by the Steuben County Planning Department. They include:

• Requiring any adult business to be located at least 1,000 feet from "sensitive land uses," including schools, public parks, places of worship, cemeteries and civic centers.

• Adult businesses should be permitted only in "industrial zones" in the event future legislation establishes such zones.

• The town sign law should stipulate adult businesses may have no outdoor displays advertising the business other than a single identification sign that includes only the name of the business.