Milford case stirs new look at adult bylaws

A decision by Milford's Zoning Board of Appeals, sparked by the prospect of a strip club along East Main Street, has a string of area communities readying to resist such enterprises within their own borders.

"You cannot ban these businesses, because it's allowed by state and federal law," said Gerald Moody, Milford's town counsel. "But because of secondary effects, like increased prostitution and crime, it is valid to eliminate them in certain areas."

A number of Massachusetts commu nities, including Milford, established bylaws limiting strip clubs to specific areas of town during a mid-1990s industry boom. But it wasn't until March, when Kevin T. Coady Sr. was denied a special permit for an adult-entertainment venue at what is now Doc's Sports Bar, that Milford officials actually saw its effects. After the zoning board decision, and after Coady filed a still-pending appeal in Worcester Superior Court, officials in some area towns, including Hopkinton, Mendon, Franklin, and even Milford itself, became convinced those bylaws need tightening.

"Our current adult-uses bylaw doesn't address adult entertainment in the list of adult uses," said Hopkinton's town planner, Elaine Lazarus. "After seeing what happened in Milford, we looked at the bylaw and realized we needed to make sure it is properly addressing that use." Hopkinton selectmen drafted an amendment that would include nudity in the town bylaw's definition of adult entertainment, completing the article in time for Tuesday's Special Town Meeting warrant.

In Franklin, where a bylaw review was already underway, officials also raised eyebrows when Doc's proposal hit Milford. Last month, the Town Council reacted by amending Franklin's adult-entertainment bylaw to clarify its restrictions.

"We paid attention to what was going on up the street and wanted to make sure we were in compliance," said Town Administrator Jeff Nutting. "There were a lot vagaries that we amended." One included reducing the minimum distance allowed between a new adult entertainment business and schools or day-care centers from 1,000 feet to 200 feet, which is seen as less vulnerable to being overturned on appeal.

"God forbid we should have a proposal for an adult entertainment business, we wanted to make sure it met legal standards in case of an appeal, where the applicant could come back and do whatever he wanted," said Nutting.

Mendon, which does not have a bylaw covering adult-entertainment operations, took a different approach, proposing a Town Meeting article to create an adult entertainment overlay district. Town Administrator Dale Pleau said that, as in Franklin, the proposal stemmed from a general review of town bylaws. The proposal would allow adult entertainment only in the town's one commercial district.

"It's not necessarily a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Milford. It just happened that the two sort of came together," said Pleau.

After Coady filed his appeal last month, Milford officials also moved to tweak the town's adult-entertainment bylaw.

On May 19, Town Meeting voters will see three proposed bylaw amendments on the warrant: one that would block adult-entertainment uses in specified town districts, and two that would rephrase sections of the bylaw. One of the proposed amendments would define adult entertainment as a live display of nudity, including entertainment featuring exotic dancers or strippers, male or female.

Milford selectmen took an additional step last month when they passed rules that would cover the premises of an adult entertainment business, should one ever be permitted in town. The new rules address such issues as the brightness of lights and the spacing between patrons, said Selectman Bill Buckley.

He added that it's no surprise that other communities in the area have moved to safeguard against adult entertainment businesses at the same time that Milford's case surfaced.

"What's happened is a complete and comprehensive review using case law and prior tested ordinances," Buckley said. "Any community that goes through it becomes the latest update."