Another Adult Business Ban Bites The Dust—This Time In Florida

GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla.—You can find it at the intersection of I-16 and I-17 in northern Florida, about 20 miles south of Jacksonville—and finally, creeping into the 21st century as far as adult entertainment law is concerned: The Board of Commissioners of Clay County, whose county seat is Green Cove Springs, has finally voted to repeal its 30-year ban on adult entertainment businesses in the county. Mind you, it's not as if they wanted to allow county residents to buy XXX-rated DVDs or watch women slowly taking off their clothes in cabarets, but according to an article on Jacksonville.com, "several private attorneys concurred with the legal opinion of County Attorney Mark Scruby and Michael Kahn, the commission’s outside legal counsel, that the courts almost certainly would strike down the Clay ban as unconstitutional." Good thing the commissioners—well, all but one—listened to their attorneys' advice. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, which solidified adult businesses' right to exist, albeit with some caveats like the possible presence of secondary effects, municipalities across the nation have been repealing their adult business bans, though many had to be taken to court beforehand. "What we are about to accomplish tonight is not to invite an industry and call it economic development," noted Commission Chair Diane Hutchings. "We are being proactive to protect the future of these sensitive areas in our county, and we have to do that by providing alternative locations." But it's not as if adult businesses will be home free. Along with repealing the ban, the commissioners enacted some stiff restrictions including buffer zones to keep the businesses away from the usual "sensitive uses," and the businesses will have to locate only in unincorporated areas of the county that are already zoned for business—and the Middleberg community and the Wells Road corridor in Orange Park are RIGHT OUT! The commissioners first started looking at the issue in 2013, when a real estate broker in Jacksonville Beach called county offices to ask which county zones permitted adult businesses—even though no one has asked a similar question since. Nonetheless, the county has spent nearly $150,000 in legal fees, consulting fees and public notice advertising while deciding whether to repeal the ban. Pictured: Green Cove Springs circa 1910.