Zoning to crack down on adult biz

Local zoning officials are poised to begin an enforcement effort aimed at adult businesses such as strip clubs, massage parlors or adult bookstores that have failed to comply with new laws regulating signage and building design.

“This should not come as a shock to the adult businesses,” said Zoning administrator Steve Tilley in an interview Monday. “They’ve known this was coming for about six months now.”

At issue in the pending enforcement effort is a zoning law passed six months ago that establishes, among other rules, criteria for the signs outside adult businesses. The law, slated to take effect Aug. 1, requires that adult business signs not display any sexually explicit language or graphics. In addition, the new law bars adult businesses from advertising with neon signs and signs lit from underneath, and requires that parking areas have sufficient lighting. It also carries restrictions on the noise level of an establishment, prohibiting the use of loudspeakers.

Most adult businesses on Saipan, Tilley said, are not complying with the new law now and could face daily $1,000 fines or possible criminal penalties for failing to conform to its standards.

“It’s in their interests to comply now,” Tilley added.

The enforcement effort comes after the CNMI Zoning Board last month approved a series of proposed zoning regulations concerning adult businesses for public review. Key to the proposal is a plan to establish a so-called “adult business overlay zone,” an area along Middle Road where, according to its text, adult businesses would be concentrated and would have to obey rules on signs, location and other design elements. If approved, adult businesses would have one year to relocate to the zone.

“The longer they wait, the less flexibility they will have with the zoning rules,” Tilley said. “And the adult overlay zone might not hold all the adult businesses on Saipan.”

The adult overlay zone has yet to be formally created, but in the mean time, Tilley said, many adult businesses need to change their signs if they want to stay in operation.

“At some point, we’re going to start issuing notices of violation,” Tilley said.

Meanwhile, the board has received only one proposal regarding the second aspect of the newly proposed adult business zoning rules, the creation of an “adult business park.” Officials with the Department of Commerce have suggested the now defunct La Fiesta Mall, a sprawling empty retail site, could serve as an ideal location for such a park because its design will help government regulators and police enforce local laws there.