Frustration is reportedly building in some North Carolina areas over non-enforcement of a 1994 adult businesses zoning law which restricted adult businesses to industrial, business or urban mixed zones and required topless clubs to be at least 1000 feet - adult bookstores 1500 feet - from churches, schools, parks, day care centers or areas zoned as residential.
The Charlotte Observer reported that the 1994 law gave existing, non-conforming adult businesses until 2002 to move. However, the city can’t enforce the law until U.S. District Court Judge Graham Mullen rules on a long-running lawsuit that claims the regulations are illegal.
Michelle Crouch’s story reported that five adult businesses filed suit before the deadline, arguing that the city had not provided enough legal locations for the businesses. If the businesses have nowhere they can move, that makes the law tantamount to a complete ban, which is unconstitutional.
For 18 months, the story said, Mullen has said he's too swamped and can't make a civil case a priority.
"I know it needs to be done, but I've been balled up with criminal cases," said Mullen, noting that he hopes to get to the case this fall. "The stack of stuff I have to read with these judgments is six inches thick."
The problem, he told The Charlotte Observer, is that Congress takes too long to fill vacancies. North Carolina's western district, which covers Charlotte, is supposed to have five active judgeships, Mullen said, but now has only three.
Portions of this courtesy of the Free Speech X-Press, the weekly newsletter of the Free Speech Coalition. More info at www.freespeechcoalition.com.
