The agenda for the January 7, 2014 meeting can be found here.
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TLV had quite a few inquiries over the past few weeks about a few specific items on the Board of Aldermen’s recent agenda items. An ordinance amending two sections of the Land Development Code to allow for more emergency access has been debated by land developers and contractors, and a separate ordinance creating “Adult Entertainment Overlay Districts” in Oxford has caused concern for some.
You can view the agenda for the entire meeting HERE, the specifics on the land development/emergency access issue HERE, and the adult entertainment overlay district info HERE.
The amendments of Section 162 and Section 212 of the Land Development Code “regulating the number of access points required for emergency response” passed the Board of Aldermen; this was the third reading of the amendments – discussion had taken place among the Board at the last two regular meetings. Janice Antonow voted against the motion to pass the amendments because she still had concerns that, for the safety of the public, the two access points that will now be required for new land developments should be required by law to be a certain distance from each other. It seems like a reasonable concern but even Antonow admitted, “I don’t know how to fix it, either.” These amendments, according to Tim Akers, serve three purposes: add specifics to regulations of emergency access points (inlets/outlets/emergency roads), and to reduce the number of units allowed in both condo-like complexes and subdivisions.
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The “Adult Entertainment Overlay Districts” will be implemented, as the matter of passing the ordinance to create Article 2 Section 149 of Oxford’s Code was passed unanimously by the Board. This was the third reading of the ordinance, and a public hearing was held for discussion. Section 149 will govern the locations of future “adult entertainment” establishments, as well as the appearance and operation of these businesses.
149.04. Classification.
Sexually oriented businesses are classified as follows:
1. Adult arcades
2. Adult bookstores or adult video stores
3. Adult cabarets
4. Adult motels
5. Adult motion picture theaters
6. Adult theaters
7. Escort agencies
8. Nude model studios
9. Sexual encounter centers
The regulations get pretty specific. We won’t go into them here, but to say that there’s no nudity and no alcohol. If you want to read all the prohibitions, click HERE and skip to 149.08 General and Special Requirements on page 12.
Before Section 149 was created, there was actually nowhere one could be prohibited from starting an “adult” business. It’s against our state’s law for our city to prohibit these types of businesses; but it is within the law for our Board to regulate even their placement. City Attorney Pope Mallette has been involved in the creation of these “0verlay districts,” so everything in this section of our city’s Code is 100% legit. In 149.02 Findings of Fact you’ll find the reasoning used by the Board in their restrictions. There are no current “sexually-oriented businesses” in Oxford and no permit requests for such businesses have been received; these are just steps our Board is taking “in order to protect the residential neighborhoods and other areas of the community from the secondary adverse effects of sexually-oriented businesses.” The ‘secondary effects’ are the possibility of increased crime and decreasing property values when “sexually-oriented businesses” are located close to each other.
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The TLV staff has been wondering lately about the fate of Oxford Conference Center, and at tonight’s meeting that question was answered. The Board voted unanimously in favor of approving Mayor Patterson and others to advertise for RFPs for the future operation of Oxford Conference Center. At the moment it’s been decided that OCC will take reservations until December 31st of this year to keep from losing too much revenue while decision-making. It sounds like Mayor Patterson has a few ideas up his sleeve; the RFPs (Requests for Proposals) received by the City will be discussed by the Board, and specifics will have to be hammered out with the companies/entities who make proposals to the City. The OCC will still belong to the City of Oxford, but it could be making Oxford more money. Its future as a structure beyond the end of this calendar year is unclear, but it’s a conference center until then.
-TLV News
