Strip Club Proposal Prompts Increased Zoning Restrictions

New York town relegates adult businesses to industrial areas

TONAWANDA, N.Y. - The planned opening of a strip club prompted the City of Tonawanda's Common Council to approve a law which would create tougher zoning ordinances for adult businesses in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, NY. The law effectively makes it impossible to open an adult establishment (i.e. strip club, adult theater, private modeling studio or bath parlor) in areas that are not zoned for manufacturing or industrial use.

According to the Tonawanda News, the proposed club's chosen location was zoned properly, but in the end it was rejected because of a town law which allows the supervisor to "act in the best interest of the community."

"I wanted to make sure whatever we had on the books covered the use of those storefronts in a way that's conducive to family uses," Mayor Ron Pilozzi told the Tonawanda News of the updated ordinance. "And to protect the women and children in our community."

Outlawing all forms of adult entertainment within a municipality is prohibited by the Constitution, but local governments do have the ability to decide where it's "least harmful" to situate them, according to the report.