A town supervisor here has announced a plan to change town law and provide a place for the sex industry.
"We will have to create or identify an existing zone within our building codes where these types of establishments can locate," Town Supervisor Marvin LeRoy, Jr. tells the Albany Times-Union. "They have a constitutional right to be in every community. You cannot zone them out."
This doesn't mean Clifton Park is exactly rolling out the red carpet for adult video and other sex-related businesses. The Times-Union says the town is likely to set up a three-to-six month moratorium while it mulls the new code.
LeRoy says Clifton Park is being forced to act not only by the Constitution, but also by a move in several neighboring towns to upgrade their codes, the paper reports. "Since they are going to have laws on their books that are going to be constitutionally in line," LeRoy told the paper. "This puts us at risk. If people want to come here and challenge our law, they probably would win in court."
LeRoy says he and others knew the current law was unconstitutional but held back on acting because it wasn't pressing - but was politically difficult.
The big challenge? Finding the acceptable spot for the businesses, he says. He's preparing to recommend a public forum on the matter for next month, a public hearing in February, and hopes of revising the law by next spring, the Times-Union says.
