WESTPORT, CT – Residents of Westport, CT, on Wednesday got an object lesson in civic responsibility when an adult entertainment district was approved by a margin of two votes during a town meeting.A two-thirds majority of voters present was required to approve the district, which passed 108-53.
The issue was debated hotly before the vote, with the Board of Selectmen, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals coming down in favor of approval. Officials said a failure to approve the one-square-mile district could leave the town faced with a court order allowing adult establishments to open in any commercial zone. A better idea, they said, was to determine their own destiny by framing an appropriate location themselves.
A similar proposal was defeated one year ago, primarily because it incorporated too much land area. The approved version is six parcels slimmer than the previous proposal.
A strip club already has been proposed for one of the remaining 13 parcels. The corporation that would own the club sued the town in October 2006, claiming the ordinance in effect at the time would not allow any adult business to locate within the town’s limits.
The size of the district wasn’t uppermost in critics’ minds. Even though Planning Board Chairman John Montano told voters to think of the district in First Amendment terms instead of considering it a moral issue, dissenters couldn’t separate their emotions from the facts.
“Would we willingly allow a thief into our house?” one resident asked, according to a report in The Herald News. “That’s what the law is asking us to do.”
Another said the district would represent a “financial disaster” because it would discourage other, presumably less salacious, businesses from locating in the area. Still others charged the district would harm the town’s quality of life by precipitating crime.
Select Chairman J. Duncan Albert tried to allay residents’ fears about the district by telling them adult businesses wouldn’t be allowed to locate within the area without oversight.
“They’ll still have to jump through all the hoops,” he said.
“The hoops” include restrictions on signage, security and the ability of passersby to see inside the businesses.
