15192 Thirteen Mile Rd. v. City of Warren

593 F. Supp. 147, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24464
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 8, 1984
DocketCiv. 83 CV 9030 PH, 83 CV 9078 PH
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 593 F. Supp. 147 (15192 Thirteen Mile Rd. v. City of Warren) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
15192 Thirteen Mile Rd. v. City of Warren, 593 F. Supp. 147, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24464 (E.D. Mich. 1984).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

JAMES HARVEY, District Judge.

This case raises the intractable problem of resolving the conflict between the interests of a municipality in planning community development through a zoning ordinance, and the First Amendment interests of businesses offering adult entertainment. The problem is exacerbated in the instant case by a lengthy and complex procedural history.

Plaintiff 1 is a Michigan corporation which acquired a leasehold interest in certain property located at 15192 Thirteen Mile Road, Warren, Michigan. Plaintiff is interested in establishing an adult bookstore at the Thirteen Mile Road address, and has challenged those sections of the Warren Zoning Ordinance which regulate adult bookstores. Plaintiff raised this challenge by moving for a preliminary injunction. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B), the Court referred this matter to U.S. Magistrate Harvey D. Walker to conduct a hearing on plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, and thereafter to file findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommendation of judgment. Magistrate Walker held a hearing on plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, and on September 20, 1983, filed a Memorandum Opinion and Recommendation setting forth findings of fact, conclusions of law, and a recommended resolution of plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction.

In response to the Magistrate’s recommendation, defendant filed a motion to dismiss, timely objections, and incorporated within the objections to the Magistrate’s recommendation a motion for summary judgment. Moreover, the course of litigation since the Magistrate’s recommendation has engendered numerous other motions. Thus, the Court has before it the following matters:

1. Plaintiff’s motion to amend;
2. Defendant’s motion to abstain;
3. Defendant’s motion to dismiss;
4. Defendant’s motion to disqualify Gregory Fischer Lord as plaintiff’s attorney;
5. Plaintiff’s motion to take notice of adjudicative fact;
6. Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction;
*150 7. Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment; and
8. Defendant’s motion for summary judgment.

The Court will discuss the motions in the order listed above, but before addressing the motions, the Court must set forth the relevant facts. The Court’s statement of the relevant facts is largely derived from U.S. Magistrate Harvey D. Walker’s findings of fact, which the Court has reviewed de novo in light of the transcript of the hearing held before the Magistrate. 2 Hill v. The Duriron Co. Inc., 656 F.2d 1208 (6th Cir.1981).

1. Relevant Facts

. Plaintiff is a Michigan corporation which acquired a leasehold interest in certain property located at 15192 Thirteen Mile Road, Warren, Michigan. Pamela Ramsey, the president and sole stockholder in plaintiff corporation, desires to establish a bookstore offering adult materials at the leased site. Plaintiff does not yet have any plan as to the exact proportion of adult materials that would be offered in the bookstore.

Plaintiff’s leasehold is located in a C-l zoned district in the City of Warren. Although a bookstore is permitted to locate in a C-l zoned district, an adult bookstore may not. Section 14.02(c)l(a) defines adult bookstore as follows:

[C] ADULT BOOKSTORE: An establishment having a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade, books, magazines, and other periodicals which are distinguished or characterized by their emphasis on matter depicting, describing or relating to “Specified Sexual Activities” or “Special Anatomical Areas,” (as defined below), or an establishment with a segment or section devoted to the sale or display of such material.

To further clarify the definition of adult bookstore, the zoning ordinance defines “specified sexual activities” and “specified anatomical areas” in the following terms:

Specified Sexual Activities. Specified Anatomical Areas:

For the purposes of this section, “Specified Sexual Activities” is defined as follows:

(1) Human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
(2) Acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse or sodomy.
(3) Fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttock or female breast.

And, “Specified Anatomical Areas” is defined as:

(1) Less than completely and opaquely covered:
(a) human genitals, pubic region,
(b) buttock, and
(c) female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola.
(2) Human male genitals in a diseernibly turgid state even if completely and opaquely covered.

Warren Zoning Ord. 1402(c)(1)(F).

The Warren zoning ordinance divides the city into eighteen zoning districts. An adult bookstore may locate in only four of those zones: General Business District (C-2), Wholesale and Intensive Business District (C-3), and Industrial Zones (M-l) and (M-2). To locate in any of these four zoning districts, an adult bookstore must obtain the special use approval of both the City Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. The application for a special use approval must also be accompanied by a site plan application. The Warren zoning ordinance states that a special use may be permitted only if it is not injurious to the zoning district and surrounding areas, and is not contrary to “the spirit and purpose of the ordinances.” (Warren Zoning Ord. 14.02).

*151 In addition, the Planning Commission cannot approve the site plan of an adult bookstore if any of the following conditions are found to exist:

a) The site is located on other than a major thoroughfare, as designated in the Master Thoroughfare Plan.
b) The site is closer than 500 feet to the property line of an area zoned residential or a residential use.
c) The site is located closer than 1,000 feet to a site having an adult business designation under this section or closer than 1,000 feet to the property line of any church or private or public school. Warren Zoning Ord. 14.02(c)(2).

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Bluebook (online)
593 F. Supp. 147, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/15192-thirteen-mile-rd-v-city-of-warren-mied-1984.