Simi Valley Municipal Code Art. 3 Facilities and Employees

(a) Maximum occupancy load, fire exits, aisles and fire equipment shall be regulated, designed and provided in accordance with the Fire Protection District and building regulations and standards adopted by the City of Simi Valley.

(b) No sexually oriented business shall be operated in any manner that permits the observation of any materials or activities depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas from any public way or from any location outside the building or area of such establishment. No sexually oriented business shall be operated in any manner that permits the observation of any live performance depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities or semi-nudity from any public way or from any location outside the building or area of such establishment. This provision shall apply to any display, decoration, sign, show window or other opening. No exterior door or window on the premises shall be propped or kept open at any time while the business is open, and any exterior windows shall be covered with opaque covering at all times.

(c) All off-street parking area and premises entries of the sexually oriented business shall be illuminated from dusk to closing hours of operation with a lighting system which provides an average maintained horizontal illumination of one foot candle of light on the parking surface or walkways. The required lighting level is established in order to provide sufficient illumination of the parking areas and walkways serving the sexually oriented business for the personal safety of patrons and employees and to reduce the incidence of vandalism and criminal conduct. The lighting shall be shown on the required sketch or diagram of the premises.

(d) The premises within which the sexually oriented business is located shall provide sufficient sound-absorbing insulation so that noise generated inside the premises shall not be audible anywhere on any adjacent property or public right-of-way or within any other building or other separate unit within the same building.

(e) Except for those businesses also regulated by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, a sexually oriented business shall be open for business only between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and midnight on any particular day.

(f) The building entrance to a sexually oriented business shall be clearly and legibly posted with a notice indicating that persons under eighteen (18) years of age are precluded from entering the premises. The notice shall be constructed and posted at the satisfaction of the Chief of Police. No person under the age of eighteen (18) years shall be permitted within the premises at any time.

(g) All indoor areas of the sexually oriented business within which patrons are permitted, except restrooms, shall be open to view by the management at all times.

(h) Any sexually oriented business which is also an adult arcade which provides viewing area(s) shall comply with the following additional requirements:

(1) Upon application for a sexually oriented business regulatory permit for an adult arcade, the application shall be accompanied by a diagram of the premises showing a plan thereof specifying the location of one or more manager's stations, the location of all overhead lighting fixtures and designating any portion of the premises in which patrons will not be permitted. A manager's station may not exceed thirty-two (32) square feet of floor area with no dimension greater than eight (8′) feet. The diagram shall also designate the place at which the sexually oriented business regulatory permit will be conspicuously posted. A professionally prepared diagram in the nature of an engineer's or architect's blueprint shall not be required; however, each diagram shall be oriented to the north or to some designated street or object and shall be drawn to a designated scale with marked dimensions sufficient to show the various internal dimensions of all areas of the interior of the adult arcade to an accuracy of plus or minus six (6″) inches.

(2) No alteration in the configuration or location of a manager's station may be made without the prior approval of the Chief of Police.

(3) It shall be the duty of the owner(s) to ensure that at least one employee is on duty and situated at each manager's station at all times that any patron is present inside the adult arcade.

(4) The interior of the adult arcade shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view from a manager's station of every area of the adult arcade to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose, excluding restrooms. If the adult arcade has two (2) or more manager's stations designated, then the interior of the adult arcade shall be configured in such a manner that there is an unobstructed view of each area of the adult arcade to which any patron is permitted access for any purpose, excluding restrooms, from at least one of the manager's stations. The view required in this subsection must be by direct line of sight from the manager's station. There shall be a security system which visually records each viewing booth at all times that the business is open or occupied for business.

(5) It shall be the duty of the owner(s) and also the duty of all employees present in the adult arcade to ensure that the individual viewing areas remains unobstructed by any doors, walls, persons, merchandise, display racks or other materials at all times and to ensure that no patron is permitted access to any area of the adult arcade which has been designated as an area in which patrons will not be permitted in the application filed pursuant to these regulations.

(6) No individual viewing area may be occupied by more than one person at any one time. "Individual viewing area" shall mean a viewing area designed for occupancy by one person. Individual viewing areas of the adult arcade shall be operated and maintained without any hole or other opening or means of direct communication or visual or physical access between the interior space of two or more individual viewing areas.

(7) No individual viewing area shall contain booths, stalls, or partitioned portions of such individual viewing area used for the viewing of sexually oriented material or other forms of entertainment, having doors, curtains or portal partitions, unless such individual viewing areas containing booths, stalls or partitioned portions have at least one side open to the manager's station and is visible to such manager's station. Any booth, stall or partitioned portion of an individual viewing area authorized under this subparagraph shall be constructed so as to allow twelve (12) inches of open space between the bottom of the stall or partition and the floor. Such open space shall remain unobstructed at all times.

(8) The adult arcade shall be equipped with overhead lighting fixtures of sufficient intensity to illuminate every place to which patrons are permitted access, but such lighting shall not be of an intensity as to prevent the viewing of the sexually oriented material.

(9) It shall be the duty of the owner(s) and also the duty of all employees present at the adult arcade to ensure that the illumination described above is maintained at all times that any patron is present in the adult arcade.

(10) The floors, seats, walls and other interior portions of all booths shall be maintained clean and free from waste and bodily secretions. Presence of human excrement, urine, semen or saliva in any such booths shall be evidence of improper maintenance and inadequate sanitary controls. Evidence of such conditions shall justify suspension or revocation of the owner and operator's sexually oriented business regulatory permit.

(i) All areas of the sexually oriented business which are accessible to the public shall be illuminated at a minimum of the following foot candles, minimally maintained and evenly distributed at ground level:

(j) Patrons and employees shall not use the same restrooms. The sexually oriented business shall provide and maintain separate restroom facilities for male patrons and employees, on the one hand, and female patrons and employees, on the other. Male patrons and employees shall be prohibited from entering any restroom for females, and female patrons and employees shall be prohibited from entering any restroom for males, except when an employee carries out duties of repair, maintenance or cleaning of the restroom facilities. All restrooms shall be free from any sexually oriented materials. All restrooms shall not contain television monitors or other motion picture or video projection, computers, recording or reproduction equipment. The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to a sexually oriented business which deals exclusively with sale or rental of sexually oriented materials which are not used or consumed on the premises, such as an adult bookstore, or adult video store, and which does not provide restroom facilities to its patrons or the general public.

(k) The following additional requirements shall pertain to sexually oriented businesses which provide live performances in adult cabarets or adult theaters:

(1) No person shall perform live entertainment for patrons of a sexually oriented business except upon a stage at least two (2′) feet above the level of the floor which is separated by a distance of at least ten (10′) feet from the nearest area occupied by patrons, and no patron shall be permitted within ten (10′) feet of the stage while the stage is occupied by a sexually oriented business performer.

(2) The sexually oriented business shall provide separate dressing room facilities for performers which are exclusively dedicated to the performers' use. No public access will be permitted to any dressing room facility.

(3) The sexually oriented business shall provide an entrance and exit for performers which is separate from the entrance and exit used by patrons.

(4) The sexually oriented business shall provide access for performers between the stage and the dressing rooms which is completely separated from the patrons. If such separate access is not physically feasible, the sexually oriented business shall provide a minimum three (3) foot wide walk aisle for performers between the dressing room area and the stage, with a railing, fence or other barrier separating the patrons and the performers capable of, and which actually results in preventing any physical contact between patrons and performers.

(5) No performer, either before, during or after performances, shall have any physical contact with any patron and no patron shall have physical contact with any performer either before, during or after performances by such performer. This subsection shall only apply to physical contact on the premises of the sexually oriented business.

(6) Fixed rails at least thirty (30) inches in height shall be maintained establishing the separations between performers and patrons required by this section.

(7) No patron shall directly pay or give any gratuity to any performer and no performer shall solicit any pay or gratuity from any patron.

(l) No operator, owner or other person with managerial control over a sexually oriented business shall permit any person on the premises of a sexually oriented business to engage in a live showing of any specified anatomical areas. This provision may not be complied with by applying an opaque covering simulating the appearance of the specified anatomical areas required to be covered.

(m) No sexually oriented business performer on the premises of a sexually oriented business shall engage in a live showing of any specified anatomical areas. This provision may not be complied with by applying an opaque covering simulating the appearance of the specified anatomical areas required to be covered.

(n) Sexually oriented businesses shall employ security guards in order to maintain the public peace and safety to prevent any of the conduct listed in Section 5-8.207(a)(3) from occurring on the premises, based upon the following standards:

(1) Sexually oriented businesses featuring live entertainment shall provide at least one security guard at all times while the business is open. If the occupancy limit of the premises is greater than thirty-five (35) persons, an additional security guard shall also be on duty at all times while the business is open.

(2) Security guards for other sexually oriented businesses may be required if it is determined by the Chief of Police that their presence is necessary in order to prevent any of the conduct listed in Section 5-8.207(a)(3) from occurring on the premises.

(3) Security guards shall be charged with preventing violations of law and enforcing compliance by patrons of the requirements of these regulations. Each security guard shall be uniformed in such a manner so as to be readily identifiable as a security guard by the public and shall be duly licensed as a security guard as required by applicable provisions of state law. No security guard required pursuant to this subsection shall act as a door person, ticket seller, ticket taker, admittance person, or sole occupant of the manager's station while acting as a security guard.

(o) If a sexually oriented business is licensed to serve alcoholic beverages, the permittee shall abide by the rules and regulations set forth by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

(p) The sexually oriented business shall not conduct any massage, acupuncture, body-wrapping, tattooing, acupressure, fortune-telling or escort services on the premises.

(q) The sexually oriented business shall provide a security system that visually records and monitors all parking lot areas, at all times that the business is open or occupied for business.

(r) The sexually oriented business shall comply with the City's sign regulations.

(s) The sexually oriented business shall comply with the development, parking and design requirements of the underlying zone for the specific underlying use.

(t) The sexually oriented business shall not conduct or sponsor any special events, promotions, festivals, concerts or similar activities which would increase the demand for parking spaces beyond the number of spaces for the business, as required by the underlying zone.

(u) Landscaping shall conform to the standards established for the underlying zone, except that, if the sexually oriented business is the sole use on a lot, no planting shall exceed thirty (30) inches in height, except trees whose foliage is at least six (6′) feet above the ground.

The foregoing applicable requirements of this section shall be deemed conditions of each sexually oriented business regulatory permit approval, and failure to comply with any of the foregoing requirements shall be grounds for either suspension or revocation of the permit issued pursuant to these regulations.

(§ 2, Ord. 932, eff. July 30, 1998)

(a) No later than March 1st of each year each permittee for adult cabarets and for adult theaters which provide live performances, shall file a verified report with the Chief of Police showing the permittee's gross receipts and amounts paid to dancers for the preceding calendar year.

(b) Every permittee of a sexually oriented business which provides live entertainment in an adult cabaret or an adult theater shall maintain a register of all performers on the premises, and their identification and permit numbers, and their addresses and their ages. Such register shall be available for inspection by the Chief of Police anytime that the business is open or occupied for business. The permittee shall maintain and retain such register for a period of two years.

(§ 2, Ord. 932, eff. July 30, 1998)

(a) Every sexually oriented business shall display at all times, when open or occupied for business, the sexually oriented business regulatory permit issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for such sexually oriented business in a conspicuous place so that the same may be readily seen by all persons entering the sexually oriented business.

(b) Every sexually oriented business shall obtain from the Chief of Police for each sexually oriented business performer a permit pursuant to this chapter, with an identification card containing the name, address, photograph and permit number of the performer.

(c) Each sexually oriented business performer shall have such card available for inspection at all times during which such person is on the premises of the sexually oriented business at which he or she performs.

(§ 2, Ord. 932, eff. July 30, 1998)

(a) It shall be unlawful for any permittee, operator, or other person in charge of any sexually oriented business to employ, or provide any service for which it requires such permit, to any person who is not at least twenty-one (21) years of age.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any permittee, operator or other person in charge of any sexually oriented business to permit to enter, or remain within the sexually oriented business, any person who is not at least eighteen (18) years of age.

(§ 2, Ord. 932, eff. July 30, 1998)