CINNAMINSON, N.J. - In a ruling Monday, Judge John Sweeney upheld an ordinance banning adult bookstores and novelty stores from a redevelopment zone, halting Fantasy Gifts' plans to reopen on Route 130.
Fantasy Gifts opened on July 18 without proper township permits at the Cinnaminson Pep Boys Plaza, part of a major Route 130 redevelopment zone. Three days later, Sweeney temporarily closed the operation because it lacked permits.
Sweeney ruled Monday that adult stores will not be permitted within that redevelopment zone, citing an Aug. 15 ordinance amendment adopted by the township. The amendment bans adult stores from the zone because they would be within 1,000 feet of a residential neighborhood, church or recreational park.
"Here, while the township offers no concrete evidence in support of its restriction of adult uses, it is common sense that an adult-novelty store, with the types of products described in defendants' own words, will have an impact on the morals, maintenance of property values and character of the surrounding neighborhood," the judge wrote in the ruling.
Sweeney said the township did not ban adult bookstores and video stores from all township building zones. In accordance with a Supreme Court interpretation of a state law, he said, owners of such stores may be required to look for locations in the "market area" surrounding Cinnaminson.
Fantasy Gifts also has shops in the New Jersey cities of Turnersville, Marlton and Voorhees.
