The Planning Board has approved an ordinance limiting the size of displays for adult materials.
The board approved the measure 5-3 during a meeting last Thursday where officials brought out a number of displays involving such items as Naughty Neighbors magazine and other adult materials, the Boston Globe reported.
The measure, proposed by Mayor Mary Clare Higgins and City Councilors Marianne L. LaBarge and Marilyn A. Richards, would amend the city’s zoning laws to limit adult displays to 1,000 square feet in all zones except for Highway Business.
Although one commissioner, David Wilonsky said it was a bad idea, the majority of the panel voted in favor of the proposal. It now goes before the City Council for final approval.
The measure would impact the proposed Capital Video super store that would be built at 135 King St. whose proponents the council has been battling in recent months.
But some business owners attending the meeting said they feared the proposed law would also impact their businesses. Lisa Fricke, owner of Modern Myths comic book store, said she felt the measure would categorize some of her comic books as pornographic.
Nick Pell and Courtney Souza, who said they were assistants to entertainment lawyer Peter Brooks, set up a display shelf of material that they said could fall within the proposed measure.
Among the items was a copy of Naughty Neighbors along with works by the Marquis de Sade, some of which are considered classics, could come under the law as well, Pell said. Souza also read story from Cosmopolitan magazine, titled “A Hot Night in the Tent” until she was asked to stop by Planning Board Chairman Francis A. Johnson.
