Alexander v. City of Minneapolis
Opinion of the Court
The District Court
Section 540.410 was enacted in May 1977 to insure that certain businesses do “not contribute to the blighting or downgrading of the surrounding neighborhood.” § 540.-410(a). It sets forth two primary restrictions. The first forbids an adults-only facility from operating “within five hundred (500) feet of a residentially zoned district, an office-residence zoned district, a church, a state-licensed day care facility and public educational facilities which serve persons age seventeen (17) or younger, an elementary school or a high school.” § 540.410(c). The second forbids an adults-only facility from operating within 500 feet of any other adults-only facility. § 540.410(d). The ordinance regulates the continued operation of already existing establishments as well as the location of new ones. Existing adult facilities were required to conform to the ordinance, by moving to a new location if necessary, by July 1, 1981. § 540.410(f).
There are presently five adults-only theatres in Minneapolis. Under § 540.410 all are in prohibited areas. Plaintiff Vegas Cinema owns one; the other four are owned by the plaintiff Alexander and managed by the plaintiff Jochim. There are approximately ten adult bookstores in Minneapolis. The ordinance would preclude the continued operation of at least seven and possibly nine of them. Alexander owns six of the bookstores, of which between three and five are prohibited by the ordinance.
In Young v. American Mini Theatres, 427 U.S. 50, 96 S.Ct. 2440,49 L.Ed.2d 310 (1976), the Supreme Court upheld a Detroit zoning ordinance regulating the establishment of new adult theatres.
The Court had an opportunity further to explain the basis of Young in Schad v. Borough of Mount Ephraim, 452 U.S. 61, 101 S.Ct. 2176, 68 L.Ed.2d 671 (1981). There, the Court invalidated a Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey, ordinance banning nude dancing. It distinguished the Mt. Ephraim ordinance from the Detroit one, noting that the latter “did not affect the number of adult movie theatres that could operate in the city,” id. at 71, 101 S.Ct. at 2184, and quoted Justice Stevens’s observation in Young that the case would come out quite differently “ ‘if the ordinance had the effect of suppressing, or greatly restricting access to, lawful speech.’ ” Id. at 76, 101 S.Ct. at 2186 (quoting Young v. American Mini Theatres, 427 U.S. at 71 n. 35, 96 S.Ct. at 2453 n. 35).
This Court recently addressed a similar issue in Avalon Cinema Corp. v. Thompson, 667 F.2d 659 (8th Cir. 1981) (en banc). The City of North Little Rock, Arkansas, enacted an ordinance which would have prevented a newly refurbished and licensed adult theatre as well as a newly licensed adult bookstore from opening. This Court invalidated the ordinance in part because it “had the effect of virtually suppressing public access to sexually oriented (but nonobscene) adult entertainment.” Id. at 662. Those courts of appeals which have addressed this kind of issue have reached similar results. Basiardanes v. City of Galveston, 682 F.2d 1203, 1213-14 (5th Cir. 1981); Keego Harbor Co. v. City of Keego Harbor, 657 F.2d 94, 98 (6th Cir. 1981); cf. Hart Book Stores, Inc. v. Edmisten, 612 F.2d 821, 827 (4th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 447 U.S. 929, 100 S.Ct. 3028, 65 L.Ed.2d 1124 (1980).
The defendants concede that if the ordinance significantly restricted access to sexually oriented entertainment it would be unconstitutional, but contend that it does not. This contention is squarely in conflict with the factual findings of the District Court. It found that the Minneapolis ordinance not only regulates new adult facilities but also affects those in existence at the time it was enacted. Under it all five adult theatres must relocate, and so must between seven and nine of the ten adult bookstores. These establishments will have to compete with another eighteen saunas, massage parlors, and “rap parlors” (Tr. 100, 131-32) for relocation space. The ordinance severely circumscribes the area to which adults-only facilities may relocate. There are at most twelve possible legal sites for relocation. Alexander v. City of Minneapolis, 531 F.Supp. 1162, 1171 (D.Minn. 1982). “[Ejnforcement of § 540.410 would have the effect of substantially reducing the number of adult bookstores and theatres in Minneapolis,” and “no new adult bookstores or theatres would be able to open.” Id. at 1172.
These findings are not clearly erroneous. Zoning Supervisor William Nordrum, one of the defendants in this case, conceded that if the maximum space physically permitted under the ordinance (including the 500-foot radius required around every adults-only facility) were used, there would be physical space to relocate only twelve adult facilities (Tr. 141). He testified there would be substantially fewer adult bookstores.
Q So as I understand your testimony, there are approximately 30 adult uses that presently exist within the City of Minneapolis?
*939 A Yes.
Q And of those, five, as I understand, will be permitted to remain?
A Unless some receive extensions from the Minneapolis City Council, that’s correct.
Q Isn’t it true that, assuming you could find locations for as many possible in the white area [5 ] and draw a 500-foot radius, you probably wouldn’t be able to relocate more than a dozen within the white area?
A That sounds correct.
Q And isn’t it possible that if the ordinance were fully implemented, there would be no adult theaters at all within the City of Minneapolis?
A Unless there were extensions granted by the City Council, that’s correct.
Q And there would be substantially fewer adult bookstores in the City, is that correct?
A Yes.
(Tr. 140-41).
Theoretically the adult facilities in question could stay in their present locations if they reduced their inventory of “sexually oriented material” to below 40%. § 540.-410(b)(1), (2). Moreover, under § 540.410(g) the city council, upon the recommendation of the zoning administrator, may allow an adult facility an extension beyond the July 1, 1981, relocation deadline.
The District Court permissibly found that § 540.410 would greatly suppress access to adult theatres and bookstores.
The judgment is
Affirmed.
. The Hon. Diana E. Murphy, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.
. We were informed at the oral argument that “rap parlors” are establishments at which men may converse with women who are not fully
. The parties disagree as to whether certain facilities fall within § 540.410(c). The question is whether certain buildings within 500 feet of adult bookstores are churches or schools within the meaning of the ordinance. The Minnesota state courts have not interpreted this section, but for purposes of this case it does not matter whether three, four, or five of Alexander’s bookstores would be in violation of the ordinance.
. The zoning ordinance in Young v. American Mini Theatre was similar to the Minneapolis ordinance in that it had the effect of dispersing clusters of adults-only facilities. It provided that an adult theatre could not be located within 1,000 feet of any two other regulated uses or within 500 feet of a residential area. (The provision with respect to residential areas was added by amendment after the District Court had ruled in Young, and the Supreme Court’s opinion does not directly address its validity.) The regulated uses covered by the ordinance were hotels or motels, pawnshops, pool or billiard halls, public lodging houses, secondhand stores, shoeshine parlors, taxi dance halls, adult bookstores, cabarets, establishments for the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises, adult theatres, and “mini” theatres. As far as movies and bookstores were concerned, however, the Detroit ordinance did not affect any existing uses. That is an important difference between the Detroit and Minneapolis ordinances.
. This reference is to a zoning map or maps received into evidence at trial. Apparently, the “white area” on the map depicted the only area of the city within which the displaced businesses might relocate. Tr. 31-39.
. In general, nonconforming uses already in place when a new zoning ordinance is enacted in Minneapolis are allowed to continue operating at their existing location. They are “grandfathered in,” as the saying goes. Adult uses are not given anything like this privilege under the ordinance under attack here. Plaintiffs argue that this distinction is a discrimination against protected speech, and that the ordinance is invalid on this ground without regard to any other basis of attack. We need not reach that question.
. Plaintiffs argue that there are as few as three sites actually available for leasing at the present time (or depending on how one interprets the ordinance only one). They also argue that these three sites are not economically suitable for relocation. Because we find that the twelve legally permissible relocation sites do not supply sufficient access to the constitutionally protected adult uses in question we need not look to their actual availability or economic feasibility or how these factors would affect the constitutionality of the ordinance.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Ferris J. ALEXANDER, Benedict Jochim, and Vegas Cinema Corporation of Minneapolis, Inc., d/b/a Avalon Theatre v. CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, a municipal corporation William A. Nordrum, Jr., individually and as Zoning Supervisor for the City of Minneapolis and Anthony Bouza, individually and as Chief of Police of the City of Minneapolis
- Cited By
- 21 cases
- Status
- Published