§ 9-463. Sexually-oriented business development and performance standards

The following development and performance standards shall be satisfied by a sexually-oriented business and included in any approved sexually-oriented business license:

(a) Maximum occupancy load, fire exits, aisles and fire equipment shall be regulated, designed and provided in accordance with the fire department and building regulations and standards adopted by the City of Costa Mesa.

(b) No sexually-oriented business shall be operated in any manner that permits the observation of any material depicting, describing or relating to "specified sexual activities" and/or "specified anatomical areas" from any public right-of-way or from any location outside the building or area of such establishment. This provision shall apply to any display, decoration, sign, show window or other opening.

(c) Parking lot lighting shall be provided to illuminate all off-street parking areas serving such use for the purpose of increasing the personal safety of patrons and employees and reducing the incidents of vandalism and theft. The lighting shall provide a level of illumination not less than one (1) foot-candle, measured at the surface of the pavement, at all areas or the parking lot. The lighting shall be shown on the required plot plans and shall be reviewed and approved by the development services department.

(d) The premises within which the sexually-oriented business is located shall provide sufficient sound-absorbing insulation so that noise generated inside said premises shall not be audible anywhere on any adjacent property or public right-of-way or within any other building or other separate unit within the same building.

(e) A sexually-oriented business shall be open or operating for business only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. on any particular day.

(f) The building entrance to a sexually-oriented business shall be clearly and legibly posted with a notice indicating that persons under eighteen (18) years of age are precluded from entering the premises. Said notice shall be constructed and posted to the satisfaction of the development services director. No person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be permitted within the premises at any time.

(g) All indoor areas of the sexually-oriented business within which patrons are permitted, except rest rooms, shall be open to view by the management at all times.

(h) Any sexually-oriented business which is also an "adult arcade", shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) The interior of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view from a manager's station of every area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose, excluding restrooms. Restrooms may not contain video reproduction equipment. If the premises has two (2) or more manager's stations designated, then the interior of the premises shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view of each area of the premises to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose from at least one (1) of the manager's stations. The view required in this subsection must be direct line of sight from the manager's station.

(2) The view area specified in subsection (5) below shall remain unobstructed by any doors, walls, merchandise, display racks, or other materials at all times, No patron is permitted access to any area of the premises which has been designated as an area in which patrons will not be permitted.

(3) No viewing room may be occupied by more than one (1) person at any one (1) time.

(4) The walls or partitions between viewing rooms or booths shall be maintained in good repair at all times, with no holes between any two (2) such rooms such as would allow viewing from one (1) booth into another or such as to allow physical contact of any kind between the occupants of any two (2) such booths or rooms.

(5) Customers, patrons or visitors shall not be allowed to stand idly by in the vicinity of any such video booths, or from remaining in the common area of such business, other than the restrooms, who are not actively engaged in shopping for or reviewing the products available on display for purchaser viewing. Signs prohibiting loitering shall be posted in prominent places in and near the video booths.

(6) The floors, seats, walls and other interior portions of all video booths shall be maintained clean and free from waste and bodily secretions. Presence of human excrement, urine, semen or saliva in any such booths shall be evidence of improper maintenance and inadequate sanitary controls; repeated instances of such conditions may justify suspension or revocation of the owner and operator's license to conduct the sexually-oriented establishment.

(i) All areas of the sexually-oriented business shall be illuminated at a minimum of the following foot-candles, minimally maintained and evenly distributed at ground level:

Area	Foot-Candles
Bookstores and other retail establishments	20
Theaters and cabarets	5 (except during performances, at which times lighting shall be at least 1.25 foot-candles)
Arcades	10
Motels/Hotels	20 (in public areas)
Modeling studios	20

 

(j) The sexually-oriented business shall provide and maintain separate restroom facilities for male patrons and employees, and female patrons and employees. Male patrons and employees shall be prohibited from using the restroom(s) for females, and female patrons and employees shall be prohibited from using the restroom(s) for males, except to carry out duties of repair, maintenance and cleaning of the restroom facilities. The restrooms shall be free from any material depicting, describing or relating to "specified anatomical areas" or "specified sexual activities". Restrooms shall not contain television monitors or other motion picture or video projection, recording or reproduction equipment. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to a sexually-oriented business which deals exclusively with sale or rental of adult material which is not used or consumed on the premises, such as an adult bookstore or adult video store, and which does not provide restroom facilities to its patrons or the general public.

(k) The following additional performance standards shall pertain to sexually-oriented businesses providing live entertainment involving, depicting, describing or relating to specified anatomical areas and/or involving specified sexual activities:

(1) No person shall perform live entertainment for patrons of a sexually-oriented business except upon a stage at least eighteen (18) inches above the level of the floor which is separated by a distance of at least ten (10) feet from the nearest area occupied by patrons, and no patron shall be permitted within ten (10) feet of the stage while the stage is occupied by an entertainer. "Entertainer" shall mean any person who is an employee or independent contractor of the sexually-oriented business, or any person who, with or without any compensation or other form of consideration, performs live entertainment for patrons of a sexually-oriented business.

(2) The sexually-oriented business shall provide separate dressing room facilities for entertainers which are exclusively dedicated to the entertainers' use.

(3) The sexually-oriented business shall provide an entrance/exit for entertainers which is separate from the entrance/exit used by patrons.

(4) The sexually-oriented business shall provide access for entertainers between the stage and the dressing rooms which is completely separated from the patrons. If such separate access is not physically feasible, the sexually-oriented business shall provide a minimum three (3) foot wide walk aisle for entertainers between the dressing room area and the stage, with a railing, fence or other barrier separating the patrons and the entertainers capable of (and which actually results in) preventing any physical contact between patrons and entertainers.

(5) No entertainer, either before, during or after performances, shall have physical contact with any patron and no patron shall have physical contact with any entertainer either before, during or after performances by such entertainer. This subsection shall only apply to physical contact on the premises of the sexually-oriented business.

(6) Fixed rail(s) at least thirty (30) inches in height shall be maintained establishing the separations between entertainers and patrons required by this subsection.

(7) No patron shall directly pay or give any gratuity to any entertainer and no entertainer shall solicit any pay or gratuity from any patron.

(8) No owner or other person with managerial control over a sexually-oriented business (as that term is defined herein) shall permit any person on the premises of the sexually-oriented business to engage in a live showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a fully opaque coverage, and/or the female breast with less than a fully opaque coverage over any part of the nipple or areola and/or covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. This provision may not be complied with by applying an opaque covering simulating the appearance of the specified anatomical part required to be covered.

(l) Sexually-oriented businesses shall employ security guards in order to maintain the public peace and safety, based upon the following standards:

(1) Sexually-oriented businesses featuring live entertainment shall provide at least one (1) security guard at all times while the business is open. If the occupancy limit of the premises is greater than thirty-five (35) persons, an additional security guard shall be on duty.

(2) Security guards for other sexually-oriented businesses may be required if it is determined by the police chief that their presence is necessary in order to prevent any of the conduct listed in section 9-461(b)(2) of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code from occurring on the premises.

(3) Security guard(s) shall be charged with preventing violations of law and enforcing compliance by patrons of the requirements of these regulations. Security guards shall be uniformed in such a manner so as to be readily identifiable as a security guard by the public and shall be duly licensed as a security guard as required by applicable provisions of state law. No security guard required pursuant to this subsection shall act as a door person, ticket seller, ticket taker, admittance person, or sole occupant of the manager's station while acting as a security guard.

(m) It is unlawful to sell, serve or permit the consumption of alcohol in any portion of a structure occupied by a sexually-oriented business.

Failure to comply with each and all of the foregoing development and performance standards shall be grounds for suspension or revocation of the sexually-oriented business license and/or sexually-oriented performer's license.

(Ord. No. 98-11, § 5, 4-20-98)