YAKIMA, Wash. - Yakima took a step closer Thursday to passing a law restricting establishment of new adult businesses, but allowing existing ones to stay open.
The law is most likely expected to go before the City Council within the next month, a move recommended and voted by the city's Urban Area Regional Planning Commission. Owners of two adult retail stores spoke against the new restrictions Thursday, while no one from the public spoke in its favor.
"They're pushing a bill that has no support," said Jeff Sorenson, who owns the adult video and novelty store Grapevine on Summitview Avenue. "It's an ordinance looking for a problem."
The ordinance is based on similar laws in other cities, explained members of the commission and city staffers. It would mandate a 500-foot distance between new adult stores and churches, schools, day-care facilities, public parks, libraries and residential zones. And it would mandate a 1,500-foot distance between any two adult businesses, a provision designed to prevent "red-light" districts.
The proposal's previous version would have required existing businesses to meet those requirements, but it was revised to allow them to be grandfathered in. The Grapevine and Eve's Garden on Lincoln Avenue are within 1,500 feet of each other but will be exempt from the proposed new law because they already exist.
Tracy Tobia, who owns Eve's Garden, said she was pleased to see the grandfather clause added and was glad to hear Thursday that her business would keep its grandfather status even if she sells it.
"As long as I can resell my business, it's not going to hurt me," she said.
The chance for public debate on the issue was Thursday at the commission's public hearing; the City Council will not take further testimony when it considers the ordinance.
Other elements of the ordinance would apply to existing businesses as well. These include the requirement of screening buffers on their property lines above and beyond those required for other businesses,
