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This report by the city Planning Department encouraged amendments to existing "adult business" ordinances to include eating or drinking places featuring sexually oriented entertainment (strippers, etc.). Zoning laws required "adult uses" to locate 500 feet from residential areas; 300 feet from any other adult bookstore, adult theater, bar, pool hall or liquor store; and 1,000 feet from a church, school, park or recreational facility where minors congregate. Police verified that bars, taverns and lounges (especially those with sexually oriented entertainment) are frequent scenes of prostitution and the sale/use of narcotics. On the whole, all criminal activity was higher at sexually oriented businesses. The report recommended: (1) adding eating/drinking places that exclude minors (under Texas law), unless accompanied by a consenting parent, guardian or spouse, to list of protected uses; (2) require specific permits for areas zoned as General Commercial - Multiple Family Dwelling Districts; and (3) reduce the required distance of sexually oriented businesses from residential areas, schools, parks and recreational facilities from 1,000 to 750 feet. STATE OF MINNESOTA, REPORT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S WORKING GROUP ON THE REGULATION OF SEXUALLY ORIENTED BUSINESSES June 1989 The Minnesota Attorney General's Working Group reviewed studies performed in a number of large U.S. cities, consulted with police departments in a number of other cities, researched enforcement strategies from other states, and heard testimony concerning the impact of sexually oriented businesses on their surrounding neighborhoods and concerning the relationship of sexually oriented businesses to organized crime. The Working Group concluded that there was "compelling evidence that sexually oriented businesses are associated with high crime rates and depression of property values." The Working Group recommended that communities take steps to minimize the negative secondary effects of sexually oriented businesses. Among the steps recommended were: - that communities reduce negative secondary effects by enacting and enforcing zoning restrictions on sexually oriented business locations, including prohibitions against locating multiple such businesses in the same building, and against locating any such businesses within certain minimum distances of sensitive uses such as residences, schools, and parks, and within certain minimum distances of liquor establishments and other sexually oriented businesses; - that communities adopt regulations to reduce the likelihood of criminal activity on sexually oriented business premises, and to require licensure of sexually oriented businesses and provide for revocation or denial of licenses when the licensees commit certain relevant offenses; - that communities regulate exterior features of sexually oriented businesses and enforce the existing state law requiring sexually oriented material to be provided only opaque o aque covers; and 12 000025