MIAMI - Despite issuing an eviction order last year after finding CocoDorm operated an adult business in a residential neighborhood in violation of city zoning codes, Miami's Code Enforcement Board hasn't been able to get the live-action gay porn website to shut down or move out.
It has, however, managed to tangle the city in an ongoing lawsuit over the definition of "adult business." CocoDorm maintains it isn't an adult business as the city defines such things because it has no brick-and-mortar traffic. Instead, CocoDorm's customers visit it on the Internet; therefore, the city cannot regulate its existence without running afoul of First Amendment free-speech protections.
The city, on the other hand, maintains that because the housemates are required to have at least solo sex as part of their live-on-the-Web, 24/7/365 adventure and each resident is paid $1,200 monthly to live in the house, CocoDorm deserves the "adult business" label and is subject to zoning and licensing restrictions. After all, zoning laws are meant to protect the quality of life in residential areas, the city argues.
"What they are doing is not good for the neighborhood," Miami Code Enforcement director Mariano Loret de Mola told Miami Herald blogger Steve Rothaus.
Loret de Mola's opinion notwithstanding, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke recently denied Miami's request to dismiss CocoDorm's lawsuit against the city. If the proceedings fall in line with case law established by the similar Tampa-based VoyeurDorm lawsuit in 2001, CocoDorm could win.
"As a practical matter, zoning restrictions are indelibly anchored in particular geographic locations," a federal appeals court ruled in that case. Because VoyeurDorm was located in cyberspace and had no walk-in traffic in Tampa, the city was not allowed to regulate the website's existence - at least with zoning codes.
Miami believes its zoning laws are tougher and stronger than Tampa's, though, so the city believes it will prevail.
A jury trial is scheduled for December, but CocoDorm's attorneys plan to file Thursday a request for summary judgment in the website's favor. The attorney for CocoDorm parent Flava Works told Rothaus he is confident his client will prevail.
"There is no adult entertainment there," Jamie Benjamin said. "Nobody goes to a brick-and-mortar place and buys something. There's no customers there."
Ironically, just down the street from CocoDorm's current abode, another dorm is set to open soon. Residencia Jesús Maestro will shelter men who are studying for the priesthood and other college students who wish to live in an environment without worldly distractions. Rothaus noted that "daily personal prayer and annual spiritual exercises are a requirement" for all residents of the Catholic church-operated facility, and women are banned from portions of the property.
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