147.13.7.13 Sexually Oriented Businesses

It is the purpose of this ordinance to establish reasonable and uniform regulations to prevent the concentration of sexually oriented businesses within the Town of Conway; and, it is the intent to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the Town of Conway; and, it is the intent of this article that the regulations be utilized to prevent problems of blight and deterioration which accompany and are brought about by the concentration of sexually oriented businesses; and, the provisions of this amendment have neither the purpose nor the effect of imposing limitation or restriction on the context of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented materials; and, it is not the intent nor effect of this ordinance to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment, or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market; and, neither is it the intent nor the effect of this ordinance to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene material.

Sexually oriented businesses shall only be permitted in the business districts. Sexually oriented businesses shall not be permitted within one thousand (1000) feet of a church or place of worship, parish house or convent, a public, parochial or private school, a state approved day care center, residence, any establishment in which minors constitute more than fifty (50) percent of the patrons, a public park, or recreation center or another sexually oriented business.

The measure of distance between any sexually oriented business and other named point of reference shall be measured in a straight line from the nearest part of the structure in which any sexually oriented business is proposed or exists to the nearest property boundary line of the lot containing any other named point of reference.

Site plan approval by the Conway Planning Board shall be a prerequisite for the establishment of a sexually oriented business. The Planning Board may impose reasonable restrictions relative to buffers, outdoor lighting, signs, parking, egress and ingress, pedestrian movement, landscaping, building aesthetics and measures to insure that displays of merchandise conform with NH RSA 571-B

Violation of the provisions of this ordinance is declared to be a public nuisance, which shall be abated by the Town of Conway by way of civil abatement procedures.

Nothing in this ordinance is intended to authorize, legalize or permit the establishment, operation or maintenance of any business, building or use which violates any Town of Conway ordinance or statute of the State of New Hampshire regarding public nuisance, sexual conduct, lewdness, or obscene or harmful matter or the exhibition or public display thereof.

If any section, subsection, sentence clause, phrase or any portion of this ordinance is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional by the final decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The Town of Conway hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more section, subsection, sentence,clause, phrase or portion thereof be declared invalid or unconstitutional