TIMBERVILLE, Vir. — Local council has unanimously passed an ordinance restricting adult-oriented businesses. According to a recent report, the new measure includes limiting where adult businesses can locate, the hours they can operate and the types of items they can display to the public.
The Timberville law comes in the wake of a similar adult ordinance passed in nearby Staunton. The first adult business to open its doors in Staunton ignited an outpouring of criticism from concerned citizens and outspoken city attorney Ray Robertson.
Earlier this month, Robertson successfully spearheaded a charge against the shop, culminating a grand jury indicting the business on obscenity charges.
“[The town wants to] put in something that we think is going to stick,” Councilman John Coffman told the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record.
Some Timberville residents requested that the council ban adult-oriented businesses altogether. Timberville Town Manager, Austin Garber, explained that it is a violation of the Constitution for a government to ban such businesses altogether but they can put regulations and limitations in place.
“We can’t pass something that keeps them out of town,” Timberville Town Manager Austin Garber, told the Daily News-Record. “[But] the intent of this ordinance is to control those adverse secondary effects.”
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