Sexually oriented businesses.
El Paso City Code § 20.10.620
in effect20.10.620 - Sexually oriented businesses.
A. No person shall own, operate or conduct any business in an adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater or nude live entertainment club within one thousand feet of the following:
1. A church;
2. A public or private elementary or secondary school;
3. A nursery school, kindergarten, child care center, day nursery or day care center;
4. A university, college, vocational or business school;
5. A boundary of any residential district;
6. A public park adjacent to a residential district;
7. The property line of a lot devoted to any residential use;
8. Another adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater or nude live entertainment club.
B. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
1. Conduct Any Business. Any person who does any one or more of the following shall be deemed to be conducting business:
a. Operates a cash register, cash drawer or other depository on the adult business premises where cash funds or records of credit card or other credit transactions generated in any manner by the operation of the establishment or the activities conducted therein are kept;
b. Displays or takes orders from any customer for any merchandise, goods, entertainment or other services offered on the adult business premises;
c. Delivers or provides to any customer any merchandise, goods, entertainment or other services offered on the adult business premises;
d. Acts as a door attendant to regulate the entry of customers or other persons into the business premises; and
e. Supervises or manages other persons in the performance of any of the foregoing activities on the business premises.
2. "Entertainment" means any act or performance, such as a play, skit, reading, revue, pantomime, scene, song, dance, musical rendition or striptease, whether performed by employees, agents, contractors or customers. The term "entertainment" shall also mean bartenders, waiters, waitresses or other employees exposing "specified anatomical areas" or engaging in "specified sexual activities" in the presence of customers.
3. "Operator" means the manager or other natural person principally in charge of an adult business regulated in this section.
4. "Owner" or "owners" means the proprietor if a sole proprietorship, all partners (general and limited) if a partnership, or all officers, directors and persons holding ten percent of the outstanding shares if a corporation.
C. For the purposes of this section, measurements shall be made in a straight line, from the nearest portion of the building or structure used as a part of the premises of a regulated use to the nearest property line of any uses listed in subsection A of this section.
D. Any adult bookstore, adult motion picture theater or nude live entertainment club lawfully in existence on February 10, 1987, and not in compliance with the zoning provisions of the city code, shall be deemed a nonconforming use and shall comply with all of the provisions of the zoning code regulating such uses by February 10, 1988. In the case of any such uses being located within one thousand feet of each other, the use first established and continually operating shall be allowed to continue to operate at its location, provided such use complies with all other provisions of the zoning code.
E. The subsequent establishment of any use set forth in subsection A of this section within one thousand feet of a previously existing use regulated by this section shall not render such use a nonconforming or unlawful use.
F. The regulations in this zoning code of adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters and nude live entertainment clubs are intended to be land use controls meant to regulate the harmful secondary effects of such uses only, and shall not be construed as being intended to limit access by adults to sexually oriented material, activity or expression, protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
G. Signage. The owner or operator of an adult entertainment use may erect, construct and maintain signs allowed by and conforming with Chapter 20.18 of this Code.
H. If any section, subsection, clause or any portion of the regulations in this zoning code regulating adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters and nude live entertainment clubs is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Code regulating such uses.
(Ord. 16653 § 2 (part), 2007)
Source: City of El Paso, City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/tx/el_paso/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT20ZO_CH20.10SUUSRE_20.10.620SEORBUFetched: 10/28/2026