New board set to regulate adult businesses

Warren County now has an Adult Oriented Business Board to establish regulations concerning such businesses.

The five people appointed to the board are Earl Barr, Charles Bogle, Marvin Lusk, Linda Partin and Tommy Savage. Soon after their appointment, County Executive John Pelham asked the board to begin work on a set of regulations to govern adult businesses, as well as draw up an application form to be used. Rick Stacy, of county attorney Larry Stanley?s office, worked with the board on these documents.

Counties are allowed to establish these regulations under Tennessee Codes Annotated 7-51-1101.

Pelham said he wanted to get formal regulations in place so the county could have some control over these types of establishments, some of which have gone into operation in neighboring counties.

?The city of McMinnville already has regulations in place, but none existed in the county until recently,? said Pelham. ?We have had regulations drawn up for some time where this board had established them, Rick Stacy has gone over those guidelines with the board, and all that remained was for the commission to formally approve them, which it did at its regular meeting Monday night.?

Pelham said at least one adult-oriented business has contacted the county about opening an establishment here, and he wanted to have an approved set of regulations and an approved application form in place to provide to this company if it should decide to proceed.

?We don?t know if this is going to happen, but if it does, they will be required to meet these guidelines and complete the application process,? Pelham said.

The regulations will govern a wide range of businesses, and public behaviors. Detailed definitions of these are listed in the document, which can be obtained at the county executive?s office. Among others, the regulations will include the following:

? Adult-only bookstores

? Adult cabarets

? Adult entertainment centers

? Adult-only motion picture theaters

? Adult motels

? Massage parlors

? Specified criminal activity ? which includes a range of offenses from promotion of prostitution to dissemination or sale of pornography or materials harmful to minors.

The regulations stipulate, among other things, that no business of this type can be established within 5,000 feet of the property line of a lot devoted to residential use, a church, a state-licensed day care facility, public library, or private educational facilities which serve persons age 17 or younger, an elementary school, high school, funeral parlor, a public park, community center, a business licensed or permitted to sell beer or intoxicating liquors, or any other adult-oriented establishment as set out in the regulations.

Adult-oriented businesses must apply for an adult-oriented business license by submitting an application to the county clerk along with an application fee of $1,000, and a permit fee of $4,000. These businesses must also have a valid Warren County business license.

Penalties for violation of any of these regulations and guidelines will include fines and loss of license to operate in Warren County.

Any such business already in operation in Warren County will not be affected by the new guidelines.