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Officials Vow To Shut Down Newly Opened Rt. 88 Adult Shop
By Catherine Galioto
Officials promised to hand deliver a message that a newly opened shop, selling sexually oriented videos, should close its doors.
The store opened in the renovated spot of the old Brick Hospital Thrift Shop on Route 88, and nearby residents began inundating the township with calls and petitions decrying the shop.
Those residents came to this week's Brick Township Council meeting to drive home the message: "We want this store gone."
Mayor Dan Kelly and Council President Stephen Acropolis said when residents came to town hall to complain about the store, they were both shocked and drove to see the situation. Brick officials said they were surprised the store gained a permit to open, said somehow paperwork was approved wrongly or was filled out misleadingly and that they wanted answers on how this could happen.
Some officials went in to discover that more than half of the shop's video stock was adult videos.
According to Township Attorney Jean Cipriani, if a business is more than 10 percent dedicated to a certain use, it becomes a principal use of that business. Further, if the principal use is sexually explicit videos, reading materials and novelty items, it must abide by a long list of rules from the township and the state, Cipriani said.
Residents said those rules, such as shielding the front window so adult material is not in the public view, are not being followed.
The store front had closed for the night as of press time, and staff could not be reached for comment.
Officials were also concerned that aside from the cited issues, the location of the store could be illegal because Brick law does not allow a business of this type to be within 1,000 feet of a residential area. There is a residential area behind the plaza in which the store does business.
For that reason alone, Acropolis said, the store should close.
Kelly said he remembered issues with other sexually explicit retailers, such as the Pleasure Zone on Chambersbridge Road, which resulted in an unsuccessful court battle to force that business's closure.
But Kelly said he didn't think the court history should deter the township from taking action in the new business's opening.
Residents and Acropolis agreed.
"We will follow the necessary steps first thing tomorrow morning," Acropolis said during Tuesday's council meeting. This was greeted with strong applause from the dozen or so residents that came out to discuss the issue.
Cipriani said the process would include a cease-and-desist letter from the township to the business. If the owners refused to comply, the township could go to Superior Court to get an injunction.
During the heated public meeting, Acropolis said the matter could result in a lawsuit from the business. It has invested its time retrofitting the location, buying stock and signage.
"It's going to be a lawsuit," he said. "This is nothing new to us … we will fight it, and I have no problem fighting it."
Councilman Joseph Sanjiovanni wondered why this wasn't caught before the business owner invested in the location.
"This never should have happened, and it's come this far," he said.
The council and mayor were in agreement, the business should have raised red flags with the zoning department, and Township Administrator Scott Pezzaras said the offi- cials there had received memos in the past to alert the township attorney when businesses of this type apply.
"There should have been a call to the township attorney," Acropolis said, and added that they will talk to the zoning office to see how the matter is documented, and what the applications and certificate of occupancy files on the business look like and if they are in order.
Cipriani said that the business is in violation of a state criminal statute regulating sexually oriented business, and that it breaks the township code. Acropolis said about three years ago, Brick created laws that go farther than the state law does in regulating these businesses.
"We've got one of the toughest child predator laws in the state," Acropolis said.
Parents and concerned citizens came to the meeting to demand the community's children be protected from this type of retail establishment.
One mother said she was very worried and could no longer take her routine walks with her children to the neighboring store for food, for fear of having them see the lighted "adult" signs and explicit video displays as they walk by. Acropolis agreed.
"We're all on the same page," Acropolis said. "We don't want this here."
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