EAST LONGMEADOW –   At the Feb. 13 Town Council meeting the Council presented the first reading of a new bylaw relating to adult stores, clubs and video theaters.  At the latest Town Council meeting on Feb. 27, the Town Council hosted their second reading and subsequently voted to approve the new bylaw.

The bylaw, which has been quite controversial in town, was created in response to an Adam & Eve store looking to potentially locate to East Longmeadow to expand their stores.  However, in January of this year owner Scott McGregor noted that he did not believe his store would be entering the town after the realization that with the new bylaw and restrictions, a sex-related store would be limited to a location in East Longmeadow’s industrial park.

At the Feb. 27 meeting Town Council Chair Kevin Manley read for the second time the bylaw relating to adult stores, clubs and video theaters.  Similarly to the meeting prior, he provided the definitions of adult bookstores, adult clubs, adult theaters, adult use, adult video stores and adult paraphernalia stores. To view these definitions and descriptions, ELCAT has provided a video of the meeting for residents to watch.  Tune into hour 2 minute 51 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYc0KzJU-XI&t=10272s.

As written in the bylaw, for an application to be considered the following information must be presented and fulfilled.

“One: Adult uses may not be located A: within 1,000 feet of each other. B: Within 1,000 feet of the nearest lotline of a residential district. C: Within 1,000 feet of a place of worship. D: Within 1,000 feet of school property lines or other non-profit educational use, library or museums. E: Within 1,000 feet of a playground or a park.

“Two: Signage must meet all requirements of section 5.8 of this bylaw, accept that no advertisement, display or other promotional material is to be visible to the public from any public way including but not limited to pedestrian walkways.

“Three: If the adult use allows for the showing of films or videos within the premise the booth in which the films or videos are viewed shall not be closed of by curtains, doors or screens or any other materials. All shall be clearly seen from the center of the establishment.     

“Four: The application for the special permit shall contain the following: A: Names and addresses of the legal owner of the establishment. B: Name and address of all persons having a lawful equity or security interest in the establishment. C: A sworn statement must be provided stating neither the applicant nor any person having equity or security interest in the establishment has been convicted of violating Mass General Law Chapter 119 Section 63, or Chapter 262 Section 28. D: Proposed security precautions. E: The number of employees.

“Five: No special permit shall be issued under this section to any person convicted of violating Mass General Law Chapter 119 section 63. Or Section 262 Section 28.

“Six: For the purpose of this bylaw the term substantial or significant portion, see adult use definitions, shall mean 10 percent or more of gross sales for adult bookstore, adult video stores and adult paraphernalia store in any form or amount of nudity an adult club.     

“Seven: No obscene matter, material or conduct as described in Mass General Law Chapter 262 Section 31 shall be permitted.

“Eight: Should any provision of the sections be declared illegal or unenforceable by the Attorney General or an appeals court then it shall be deemed stricken from the bylaw and the remaining portion shall remain in full-force and in effect.”

Following the second reading, Planning Board Chair George Kingston presented the Town Council with three articles that pertained to the secondary affects of having an adult store in towns that support the bylaw.

“We do have copies of these articles in the Planning Board in making this bylaw specifically was trying to address secondary affects in the point being that we have legal citations and scholarly reports that support that use, that kind of regulation.  We have done that homework and it’s there,” Kingston said.

After Kingston’s comment, there were no other public comments and the hearing was closed.  The Town Council approved the proposed bylaw with a unanimous vote in favor of it.

After hearing the results of the Town Council’s decision, McGregor took to the East Longmeadow open forum on Facebook and wrote, “It’s a shame that the local government were too ignorant and prejudice to look into what Adam & Eve is all about. Another community will reap the benefit of their stupidity.”