By Joanne Hammer
Most of 50 people who attended a public input meeting Wednesday about a new adult entertainment ordinance told council members they did not want any adult-oriented businesses in Vigo County.
The purpose of the Terre Haute City Council hearing was to receive feedback about what a new zoning ordinance should or should not include.
Councilman Ryan Cummins, R-2nd, said he has researched adult entertainment regulations on behalf of the council for about two years.
“I know it’s a First Amendment right but I am not in agreement,” Dorothy Rasche, a Sister of Providence from Terre Haute told the assembled group. “Give a block and say this is it. But not in a residential or business area.”
Some speakers suggested adult entertainment businesses be zoned near Indiana 46 or an industrial park. Others said they did not have strong feelings about ordinance details but stressed the guidelines should be fair for all businesses.
“I know I am in a small minority here, but I speak in favor of adult entertainment,” said Tracy Pruitt of Terre Haute. “It not only offers employment and good revenue, it is entertainment.”
The city has no enforceable adult entertainment ordinance but can provide some enforcement within zoning guidelines.
Adult entertainment establishments must be zoned C-3 within the city’s limits and must have an entertainment permit from the state. To serve alcohol, a business also must have a special use permit.
In 2000, the city council passed a moratorium on future zoning changes of those businesses until a new ordinance was drafted.
The decision came after a businesswoman who tried to open a tattoo and piercing shop sued the city in a zoning dispute. A judge questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance’s zoning classification, which included tattoo parlors, adult bookstores, adult video stores and massage parlors.
One tattoo and piercing business owner suggested the ordinance specify different regulations for different adult entertainment businesses.
“My real objection is being in an adult entertainment classification,” said Michael Egy, owner of Body Art, a tatoo business on South Seventh Street. “Make specific zoning regulations for each business that can be grouped with one another.”
Once an ordinance is drafted, possibly within two months, Cummins plans to introduce it to the council, he said. Members of the public may provide feedback to the council before the ordinance is written and after it is drafted, he said.
Joanne Hammer can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or joanne.hammer@tribstar.com.
