The city's effort to block the Moon-Lite Reader adult video store from relocating to Broadway is the latest chapter in a 13-year legal battle between the city and the store.
A recent article in The Daily Item reported that the store wants to reopen at 810 Broadway now that its American Legion Highway location is slated for development as part of the Channel commercial and residential project.
The city issued Moon-Lite a cease-and-desist order last Friday from opening in the Broadway location, claiming the store has not convinced building inspectors that the new location meets downtown parking requirements.
The article said that the move is overshadowed by the legal battle - specifically, a pending state Appeals Court ruling. The city hopes the Appeals Court will overrule a 2002 Superior Court decision barring the city from enforcing a 1993 ordinance limiting adult entertainment businesses to general industrial sections, and 1,000 feet away from schools and residences.
The court labeled the ordinance as unconstitutional prior restraint on free speech. Two year later, continued the report, Judge Ernest Murphy ordered the city to pay $915,000 in legal fees amassed by Moon-Lite, legally known as T&D Video, Inc.
The city challenged the ruling and Mayor Thomas Ambrosino this week informed councilors he hopes the court "will uphold at least some portions of the existing ordinances."
Pending an Appeals Court ruling, Ambrosino wants the City Council on May 22 to approve a revised adult entertainment ordinance, allowing "these uses by right in at least one zoning district," he told Thor Jourgensen of The Daily Item.
Ambrosino told councilors the revisions "eliminate certain of the provisions the Superior Court found objectionable and, most importantly, require that the special permit issue if certain conditions are met."
