Intern Patrick Jennings discusses the proposed ordinance revision.

WARSAW — The Warsaw Plan Commission discussed revising the sexually oriented business ordinance during the meeting held last night, July 10. The current ordinance is several years old and City Planner Jeremy Skinner has wanted to revise it for some time.

Skinner was quick to advise that Warsaw currently has no sexually oriented businesses and has no requests for any to be built in city limits. The ordinance revision is just being done to protect all the city and businesses in case the situation appears.

Patrick Jennings, an intern for the Warsaw Building and Planning Department, gave an educational presentation on the proposed revisions. The revision was based off of studies and past court cases between municipalities and sexually oriented businesses.

The main concerns that Jennings discussed were changes to crime and real estate and free speech implications. Data was presented to show that crime near sexually oriented businesses is higher than average while real estate prices are down. But the city also needs to make sure that businesses are respected and not impede on their freedom of speech.

The city has several options to consider when revising the ordinance. These options include limiting the hours of operation, increasing the distance allowed between the business and certain zoning districts, requiring licensing and the percentage of sexually oriented inventory to total inventory.

Many questions were brought up during the presentation. Board Member Diane Quance asked if there could also be a required distance between the business and youth oriented locations. Locations proposed included Baker Youth Club, the YMCA and parks. Skinner advised that this would be considered with the ordinance revision.

The board was asked to review the options and bring any questions or suggestions to Skinner’s attention. An official revision will be proposed after the City Council hears the current options. The public hearing is expected to be held on Aug. 14.

In other news:

• Rick Paczkowski announced that this would be his last meeting.