By DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
HERALD NEWS
EAST RUTHERFORD — The future of a proposed adult entertainment ordinance that came before the Borough Council in June is in doubt after some municipal officials questioned whether it would be adopted in the coming months.
“I am not sure what is going to happen over the next few months,” Mayor James Cassella said Tuesday. “When something is introduced, it begins a discussion and people talk about it, and they make changes. I am not sure it is going to be the final proposal if and when it gets to the council.”
The ordinance introduced in June, sought to prevent adult-oriented businesses, including bookstores, massage parlors, tattoo parlors, go-go bars and fortune-telling shops, from opening within the main business districts, near schools, houses of worship and residential areas. The purpose of the ordinance was to restrict the operation of such enterprises to about 17 lots east of the railroad tracks along East Union Avenue to Berry’s Creek and a portion of Murray Hill Parkway.
That area being considered by the borough is within the jurisdiction of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, which approves what can be built there. As of Tuesday, the commission had not received any communication from borough officials about plans for the permitted use within that area, said Christopher Gale, commission spokesman. And no applications have been submitted to the commission for zoning approval since talk of the ordinance came up months ago, Gale said.
The ordinance also has to be reviewed by the Planning Board, but the board lacked a quorum at the July 9 meeting. In addition, Board Attorney Beverly Wurth, and Jill Hartmann, borough planner, did not attend the Aug. 13 meeting. Planning Board members decided to delay action on the ordinance until both Wurth and Hartmann advise them how to proceed, Cassella said.
The ordinance may be discussed at the Planning Board’s Sept. 10 meeting, but other agenda items may prevent that from happening, Cassella said. Hartmann and Wurth did not return telephone calls on Tuesday seeking comment on the adult entertainment zone ordinance.
Since taking up the ordinance, officials said they were surprised by the negative publicity it has received, considering that other New Jersey municipalities already restrict where adult bookstores, juice bars, massage parlors and other adult venues can be located. The adverse reaction was fueled by previous media reports that labeled the borough’s efforts as the creation of a red light district, officials said.
In West Paterson, Carlstadt, South Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Bloomingdale and Butler, ordinances exist defining where some of these businesses can operate.
“No other town had the negativity, and the screaming, and the yelling about it, except for East Rutherford,” said Cassella, a Republican. ” … The negative publicity had such an adverse effect on what the council was trying to do. People do get a little gun-shy, too … If they (the council) knew that that was going to be the reaction, nobody would have voted for it, Democrats or Republicans.”
First Amendment scholars have said that municipalities cannot completely zone out all adult-oriented businesses.
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