Although Club Pink, a topless club that was located on Standard Avenue in Masury, has been out of business for a few years, there’s nothing preventing another such club from springing up in Brookfield.
The location of the club was galling to township Trustee Gary Lees because it was in a residential section and not far from two churches.
“Why didn’t they put it somewhere other than Brookfield? No rules or regulations,” Lees said at the June 19 public hearing on the proposed zoning resolution held by the Brookfield Township Zoning Commission.
Gary Lees
While case law has established that a community cannot ban sexually-oriented businesses, it can, through zoning, limit their location and set conditions of their operation.
“You can’t wipe it out, but you could put it in a specific place on that (zoning) map,” Lees said.
On Brookfield’s proposed zoning map, sexually-oriented businesses only would be allowed in commercial zones. The proposed commercial zones are, in general terms:
North of Warren Sharon Road between Warner Road and the railroad tracks
Both sides of Warren Sharon Road between Wood Street and Yankee Run Road. It also extends along the north side of Bedford Road to across the street from Brookfield schools.
The south side of Route 82 where it runs parallel with Addison Road.
The southwest side of the Route 82-Route 62 cloverleaf in Masury.
Anyone who wants to open a sexually oriented business would have to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals and ask for a conditional use permit. To obtain a permit, an applicant would have to show:
The business would be more than 1,000 feet from a place of worship; school; social service or neighborhood center; residential, mobile home park or government district, or any property that contains a residential use; park or playground; existing sexually-oriented business; or any business that sells alcohol.
All activities of the business would be conducted inside and any signs would be limited to the name of the business.
Any viewing booths or areas would be visible from a main aisle and not obscured by a curtain, door or wall.
No one under 18 would be admitted.
For more details, see the zoning resolution at www.brookfieldtwp.org
