houstonsemipro Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 March 21, 2005, 10:04PMFreeport designates adult business zoneCouncil votes 4-0 to set aside 40-acre tract more than a mile from residencesBy ZEN T.C. ZHENGCopyright 2005 Houston ChronicleFREEPORT - The city of Freeport is creating an entertainment district that would allow sexually oriented businesses to locate there in hopes of keeping them away from residential areas.ADVERTISEMENTIn a 4-0 vote Monday night, City Council approved the district on a 40-acre tract extending west from Commerce Street and north from Texas 332, more than a mile from the nearest residential neighborhood.Businesses could include adult book and video stores, cabarets, adult theaters, escort agencies and nude modeling studios.Although there are no sexually oriented businesses in Freeport, city leaders have been working on how to handle the businesses if they want to locate in the southern Brazoria County town.At a public hearing earlier this month, City Attorney Wallace Shaw said the city would risk being sued if it tried to stop sexually oriented businesses from being established in Freeport."It's something we have to deal with because activities going on in a sexually oriented business have the status of free speech under the Constitution of the United States," Shaw said. "The city has to make some land available for such a business to exercise free speech. The city can regulate it but can't prohibit it."Most of the acreage in the district approved Monday is occupied by businesses. Three lots are vacant on Commerce.zen.zheng@chron.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 That amazes me. If there are not any adult oriented business already in the city why are they bringing attention to it. My guess is that they heard rumblings of an adult business that wanted to open up there. I would be livid if I were an adjacent land / property owner. I commend their pro active stance, but they just killed that area of town. The current businesses ought to be pretty pissed. I will state for the record that I am all for Adult Caberets. They are fun. Of course my feeling is "NIMBY" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Behold the beauty of zoning. It'll just be someone elses NIMBY instead of the residents closer into town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncertaintraveler Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I'm not trying to start a debate here, but I'm always surprised at why cities want to create "adult entertainment" zones, but yet they never seem to create "religious freak" zones (i.e., all churches are located within one particular section of town), "education" zones (i.e., all schools are located within one particular section of town), and so on. Just a random observation...And...as an aside, if a city is going designate a particular tract (which apparently is currently largely undeveloped), who wants to wager that the city will consider designating the road to "sin" as their very first toll road? Just think of all the money the city could rake in by doing so.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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