Note: Ordinance No. 1520-03, passed January 26, 2004, repealed Chapter 699 (Sections 699.01 through 699.18 and 699.99) and enacted Sections 237.01 through 237.09 and 237.99 relating to Adult Video Arcades and Adult Live Entertainment Arcades. Sections 2 and 3 of Ordinance No. 1520-03, passed January 26, 2004, effective March 6, 2004 read as follows:
Section 2. That within ten (10) days of the passage of this legislation, the Director of Public Health shall send a notice, by certified and regular mail, to all Adult Video Arcades and Adult Live Entertainment Arcades located in the City of Cleveland, informing them of the passage of this legislation and providing them with a copy of this legislation.
Section 3. That lawfully established Adult Video Arcades and Adult Live Entertainment Arcades in existence on the date of the passage of this legislation will have until August 1, 2004, to come into compliance with the law. All other businesses must be in compliance from the effective date of this legislation.
Purpose. It is the purpose of this ordinance to regulate sexually oriented businesses and related activities to promote the health and general welfare of the citizens of the City. The provisions of this ordinance have neither the purpose nor effect of imposing a limitation or restriction on the content of any communicative materials, including sexually oriented materials. Similarly, it is neither the intent nor effect of this ordinance to restrict or deny access by adults to sexually oriented materials protected by the First Amendment or to deny access by the distributors and exhibitors of sexually oriented entertainment to their intended market. It is neither the intent nor effect of this ordinance to condone or legitimize the distribution of obscene materials.
(Ord. No. 650-05. Passed 6-6-05, eff. 6-15-05)
(a) The words in this Chapter shall have the meaning given to them in 347.07 of the Cleveland Codified Ordinances.
(b) “Operator” means a person who owns, controls, operates, or maintains a Adult Video Arcade or Adult Live Entertainment Arcade.
(c) “Manager's station” means the area where the owner, operator, or employee keeps the cash register. This must be an open, conspicuous area accessible to the patrons.
(Ord. No. 650-05. Passed 6-6-05, eff. 6-15-05)
No person shall operate an Adult Video Arcade or an Adult Live Entertainment Arcade unless the Arcade complies with the following requirements:
(a) It is the duty of the owners and operator of the premises to ensure that at least one employee is on duty and can see the monitor located at the manager's station at all times that any patron is present inside the premises.
(b) The premises' owner or operator installs a camera system in the video booths that complies with the following requirements:
(1) The owner or operator operates the camera system when any of the booths are available for viewing videos.
(2) The owner or operator numbers all the booths in the store with an individual number so that the booth is identified on the monitor, the digital recording, and the maintenance log.
(3) The camera system includes an individual camera in each video booth.
(4) The individual cameras are placed in the booths in a way that shows the people inside the booths from at least the knees to the shoulders.
(5) Each Video Arcade will ensure that nothing obstructs the camera from showing the people inside the booths from at least the knees to the shoulders.
(6) Each Video Arcade will immediately remove anything that obstructs the camera from showing the people inside the booths from at least the knees to the shoulders.
(7) The camera system has a monitor at the manager's station so that the owner, operator, or employee who is present in the store can view it.
(8) The monitor faces into the store's public area so that it is visible from the public area.
(9) The monitor's screen is not obstructed from view from the public area at any time that the store is open to the public.
(10) The monitoring system operates on a switcher system so that the monitor switches sequentially and continuously from one camera to another. The continuous switching process will be timed to allow an adequate view of each area surveyed by each camera. The view inside each booth must be at least four seconds, but not more than six seconds. Once the camera system completes a circuit showing the inside of all the booths, the system must immediately start a new circuit showing inside all the booths.
(11) The monitor and the recording identify the booth number for the booth that is being shown on the monitor.
(12) The camera system records the view required in division (b)(10) of this section in digital format on a minimum five consecutive days recording loop. The owner or operator must maintain at least the most recent five-day period's recordings at all times.
(13) The camera system records the date and time for the recorded images.
(14) The owner or operator places a sign that is at least 5″ by 7″ in a conspicuous place in each booth stating words to the effect: “This arcade installed a video-camera-monitoring-and-recording system in this booth. The arcade monitors and records activity in this booth.”
(15) If anyone removes or defaces the sign required by division (b)(14) of Section 237.03, then the owner or operator will replace the sign with a new one as soon as store personnel find that the sign has been removed or defaced. The owner or operator must keep enough extra signs in supply at the store to be able to replace any sign as needed.
(16) If a camera is not operating in any booth, the store must close that booth until the camera is repaired. “Not operating” means that the camera does not transmit images showing the booth's interior so that the image is shown on the monitor and recorded by the recording device.
(17) If the entire camera system is not operating, then the Video Arcade may not operate any video booths until the system is repaired.
(18) Each Video Arcade will keep a log for every time the camera system or an individual camera is not working. The log also must note any time that the sign required by division (b)(14) of Section 237.03 is defaced or removed. The log should show the date and time the camera or camera system stopped working, the date and time a repair company fixed it, and the repair company's contact information. The owner or operator must immediately provide a copy of this log to City officials on request.
(c) Restrooms may not contain video-reproduction equipment and shall not be used for viewing videos.
(d) No owner or operator, and no person who is the owner's or operator's agent or employee, shall fail to ensure that the requirements of division (b) of this section are met at all times.
(e) Except inside the video booths, the owner or operator will provide artificial light at the premises in all areas where the public is permitted at a level that provides an average illumination of 10 foot candles (107 lux) over the area at a height of 30 inches above the floor level. Inside the video booths, the owner or operator will provide artificial light at a level that allows the activities inside the booth to be clearly visible on the camera system's monitor and recordings. If City officials cannot clearly see activities inside the booths either on the camera system's monitor or recordings, then the Video Arcades must raise the light level inside the booths to the point where the activities are clearly visible.
(f) It shall be the duty of the operator, and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises, to ensure that the illumination described above is maintained at all times that any patron is present in the premises.
(g) No viewing room or booth may be occupied by more than one person at any time.
(h) No opening of any kind shall exist between viewing rooms or booths.
(i) It shall be the duty of the operator, and it shall also be the duty of any agents and employees present in the premises, to ensure that no more than one person at a time occupies a viewing booth or room, and to ensure that no person attempts to make an opening of any kind between the viewing booths or rooms.
(j) The operator of the sexually oriented business, either personally or through an agent or employee, shall regularly during each business day, inspect the walls between the viewing booths to determine if any openings or holes exist.
(k) The operator of the sexually oriented business, either personally or through an agent or employee, shall regularly during each business day clean the viewing booths.
(l) The operator of the sexually oriented business, either personally or through an agent or employee, shall cause all floor coverings in viewing booths to be nonporous, easily cleanable surfaces, with no rugs or carpeting.
(m) The operator of the sexually oriented business, either personally or through an agent or employee, shall cause all wall surfaces and ceiling surfaces in viewing booths to be constructed of, or permanently covered by, nonporous, easily cleanable material. No wood, plywood, composition board or other porous material shall be used within 48 inches of the floor.
(Ord. No. 2163-05. Passed 3-20-06, eff. 3-24-06)
(a) No unmarried person under 18 years of age shall enter any part of an Arcade in that all of the booths are used to present filmed, taped, or live entertainment which is characterized by its emphasis on specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas.
(b) If any of the booths in an Arcade are used to present filmed, taped, or live entertainment that is characterized by its emphasis on specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, no unmarried person under 18 years of age shall enter any of the booths that are used in this way.
(c) No operator, either personally or through an agent or employee, shall permit any unmarried person under 18 years of age to enter a picture arcade in violation of division (a) of this section or a booth in violation of division (b) of this section.
(Ord. No. 650-05. Passed 6-6-05, eff. 6-15-05)
Every act or omission of an agent or employee that constitutes a violation of any provision of this chapter shall be deemed the act or omission of the operator if such act or omission occurs with the authorization, knowledge, or approval of the operator, or as a result of the operator's negligent failure to supervise the agent's or employee's conduct. The operator shall also be punished for such act or omission in the same manner as if the operator committed the act or caused the omission.
(Ord. No. 1520-03. Passed 1-26-04, eff. 3-6-04)
The applicability of this chapter shall not be avoided by the Arcade's use or maintenance of a membership or club format or of any similar form of doing business.
(Ord. No. 1520-03. Passed 1-26-04, eff. 3-6-04)
Any Adult Video Arcade or Adult Live Entertainment Arcade or any part of any Adult Video Arcade or Adult Live Entertainment Arcade that is operated in violation of the provisions of this chapter is declared to be a nuisance and the City shall be authorized to seek an injunction to prohibit it from maintaining the nuisance.
(Ord. No. 1520-03. Passed 1-26-04, eff. 3-6-04)
If any provision of this chapter is held unconstitutional, invalid, or unenforceable, the unconstitutional, invalid, or unenforceable provision shall be considered severable from the remainder of this chapter. It is declared that each division, sentence, clause, phrase, or portion of a division, sentence, clause, or phrase would have been adopted notwithstanding the unconstitutionality, invalidity, or unenforceability of any other portion of this chapter.
(Ord. No. 1520-03. Passed 1-26-04, eff. 3-6-04)
Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, other than division (c) of Section 237.04, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. Any operator who, personally or through an agent or employee, permits a minor to enter an Adult Video Arcade or an Adult Live Entertainment Arcade or booth in violation of division (c) of Section 237.04 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree. Each day upon which any violation occurs or continues shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ord. No. 1520-03. Passed 1-26-04, eff. 3-6-04)