A five-year legal battle between the city of Spokane and three adult stores may have come to an end after the City Council approved an agreement that sets limits on the shops’ sale of adult materials.
The resolution, approved last week, allows the city attorney's office to submit a consent decree in federal court that forces the three shops to limit the amount of pornographic material it sells. The city, in turn, will drop its lawsuit to force the shops to close, the Spokesman Review reported.
The agreement allows the shops to remain open if they comply with the new limits.
The three stores, all operated by World Wide Video of Washington Inc., have 120 days to comply with the consent decree or face closure, said Assistant City Attorney Milt Rowland.
The city, Rowland said, will also ask the owners of another adult video store not involved in the court action to comply with the new restrictions.
Under the agreement, World Wide Video’s stores must reduce the amount of floor space dedicated to pornographic material must not exceed 20 percent and its inventories of such material must be no more than 25 percent of floor space. All of the adult material must be sectioned off from the rest of the business, and must be accessed only by adults.
The stores would also be barred from advertising so-called “triple-X merchandise,” marking a significant victory for the city, Rowland said, since the courts would not require that kind of restriction.
Federal courts have typically allowed cities to regulate adult stores in order to combat potential secondary negative effects from such businesses in the community, Rowland explained. But noted that cities are not allowed to stop shops from selling adult material.
The city also is allowed to check business records to enforce the decree and bring civil contempt charges against violators.
Spokane’s 2001 anti-porn law, amended in 2003, prohibits adult entertainment businesses from within 750 feet of homes, schools, day care centers, parks, libraries, other public facilities and other adult stores.
That law requires shops to have no more than 30 percent of its inventory dedicated to adult materials, while the consent decree with World Wide Video requires 25 percent of its inventory.
The city has one other adult shop, but it’s located in an industrial area and not subject to limitations on the amount of adult material it sells.
