Reports of ‘male strippers’ spur Norris to tighten regulations
Adult-oriented businesses seeking to operate in Norris will now come under strict new regulations, thanks to a new city ordinance passed on second and final reading Dec. 8 by the City Council.
In a separate action, the council approved a measure seeking bids for replacement of the roof of the Norris Community Building, and set a Jan. 7 date for opening the bids. The money to pay for the work is already in the city budget for the current fiscal year.
As for the adult-oriented businesses, the council passed unanimously (5-0) during the Dec. 8 meeting Ordinance 714-2025, which allows the city to license and regulate such establishments, as they are now clearly defined in the ordinance.
While the city has no officially established adult-oriented businesses, there have been reports of “male strippers” performing at certain times in a bar within the city limits along Andersonville Highway (State Highway 61), city officials said.
This led the city to revisit its regulations – or lack thereof – involving adult-oriented businesses.
Before passage of the measure, the city had no regulatory process for such businesses, but did recently put a zoning change into effect that allows them to operate only in industrial (I-1) zones.
The new ordinance clearly defines and outlines all of the adult-oriented businesses that would be allowed, and sets up a licensing process that will be administered by the chief of police.
In its preamble, the ordinance states that:
• The City Council finds that sexually oriented businesses are frequently used for unlawful sexual activities, including sexual liaisons of a casual nature;
• The concern over sexually transmitted diseases is a legitimate health concern of the city which demands reasonable regulation of sexually oriented businesses in order to protect the health and well-being of the citizens;
• Licensing is a legitimate and reasonable means of accountability to ensure that operators of sexually oriented businesses comply with reasonable regulations and to ensure that operators do not knowingly allow their establishments to be used as places of illegal sexual activity or solicitation.
• There is convincing documented evidence that sexually oriented businesses have a deleterious effect on both the existing businesses around them and the surrounding residential areas adjacent to them, causing increased crime and the downgrading of property values.
• And the City Council desires to minimize and control these adverse secondary effects and thereby protect the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens.
The ordinance also notes, “It is not the intent of the city to suppress any speech activities protected by the First Amendment, but to enact a content-neutral ordinance which addresses the secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses.”
Under the measure, adult-oriented businesses “shall include, but not be limited to, ‘adult bookstore,’ ‘adult motion-picture theaters,’ ‘adult mini-motion picture establishments,’ or ‘adult cabaret,’ and further means any premises to which the public patrons or members (regardless of whether or not the establishment is categorized as a private or members only club) are invited or admitted and/or which are so physically arranged as to provide booths, cubicles, rooms, compartments or stalls separate from the common areas of the premises for the purpose of viewing adult-oriented motion pictures, or wherein an entertainer provides adult entertainment to a member of the public, a patron or a member, when such adult entertainment is held, conducted, operated or maintained for a profit, direct or indirect.
“An ‘adult-oriented establishment’ further includes, without being limited to, any ‘adult entertainment studio’ or any premises that is physically arranged and used as such, whether advertised or represented as an adult entertainment studio, rap studio, exotic dance studio, encounter studio, sensitivity studio, modeling studio or any other term of like import.”
As for the licensing process, it includes a complete background check by the Police Department, the ordinance states.