The city defines a “sexual encounter establishment” as a business or commercial establishment that, as one of its main purposes, is a place where two or more people can “congregate, associate, or consort for the purpose of engaging in specified sexual activities,” or two or more people are nude or partially nude and receiving “consideration or compensation in any time or form” for being nude.
Establishments like strip clubs are protected under the First Amendment, but swinger’s clubs and the like are not and can be regulated.
City Manager Pete Landrum said when doing an overall zoning update, the city found this was a particular type of entity not addressed in Beavercreek’s zoning code. The city does an update to zoning code almost every year to keep things up-to-date, Landrum said. Planning Commission will be reviewing other zoning changes and updates later this year.
This type of establishment is currently not specifically mentioned at all in Beavercreek zoning code. This moratorium will give the city time to research and get the proper zoning code in place if a sexual encounter establishment were to come to Beavercreek.
There have been no applications or requests from this kind of business to locate in Beavercreek permanently, but as recently as two years ago there were temporary swinger’s clubs operating out of Beavercreek hotels, Landrum said. The city can’t stop these types of things from happening in hotels, but can stop permanent type businesses from locating in Beavercreek.
While the zoning code updates will go through the process of going to Planning Commission, then to city council for approval, this was one item the city felt should be immediately addressed. Passing it as a resolution will allow time for the zoning code process to be completed, he said.
Landrum is not sure if other nearby cities have similar moratoriums. Several area cities said they do not have this kind of code in place. Yellow Springs already has language that regulates this kind of business in its zoning code.
Some Butler County cities, like West Chester, Liberty Twp. and Hamilton have bans on sexual encounter businesses or have other sorts of regulations in place.
In September 2020 Beavercreek approved a new law that aims to make it more difficult for illicit businesses to pose as massage businesses. This legislation gives the city the ability to shut down a business, not just stop an individual, Beavercreek Planning and Development Director Randy Burkett told the Dayton Daily News at the time. Massage spas that have anyone other than a massage therapist performing massages in Beavercreek will have 60 days after the effective date to register with the city.
The focus on unlicensed massage therapists is a change from the original legislation, which had proposed that all massage businesses register with the city. The city changed the legislation after talking with several local massage businesses.
The Beavercreek Planning and Development department can deny a permit or registration to any business or massage therapist that has any sex-related offenses on their record, any felonies in the past five years or any drug violations, among other things. Any massage business must also be licensed by the state.
Kettering, Springboro, Fairborn and Miamisburg also passed similar legislation around the time Beavercreek did.
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