At issue today is the constitutionality of several zoning and public nudity ordinances adopted by the City of Daytona Beach (“the City”) to regulate adult theaters. The owners and operators of Lollipop’s Gentlemen’s Club (“Lollipop’s”), an adult theater in Daytona Beach, sued the City claiming that these ordinances violate the First Amendment. The district court upheld the zoning ordinances, finding that the City had provided a constitutionally sufficient number of available sites for adult theaters, and also denied Lollipop’s claim that it was “grandfathered in” under Florida law. However, the district court struck down the nudity ordinances, concluding that they did not further the substantial government interest in reducing negative secondary effects associated with adult theaters.
After thorough review, we affirm the district court’s determination that the zoning ordinances pass constitutional muster, as well as its ruling that, under Florida law, Lollipop’s is not entitled to grandfather status. But as for the nudity ordinances, we conclude that the City has indeed carried its evidentiary burden of establishing their constitutionality because
I. Background
A. Zoning Ordinances
In 1981, after years of increasing urban blight and economic decline, the City of Daytona Beach adopted various zoning ordinances in an effort to reduce the perceived secondary effects of adult businesses by limiting the locations where they could open and operate. 1 Among other things, the zoning ordinances permitted adult theaters 2 to open only in the City’s Business Automotive (“BA”) zoning districts, and even there prohibited them from locating within certain distances of churches, schools, parks, playgrounds, or other adult businesses. 3
In the mid-1980s, the zoning ordinances were challenged on various grounds in
Function Junction, Inc. v. City of Daytona Beach,
Langston explained that the City of Daytona Beach then created a Redevelopment Design and Review Board to deal with the blight problem. Id. Langston worked with the Board and testified that it “considered studies of blight in Boston and Detroit by the American Society of Planning Officials in 1979-1980. These studies show strong evidence that the central location of adult uses, like the ‘Combat Zone’ in Boston, causes the blighted area to grow and creates blight in fringe areas.” Id. Langston also opined, “[b]ased upon his education, experience, knowledge of blight in Daytona Beach and his participation in drafting the subject ordinance,” that live nude and seminude entertainment businesses “promote and perpetuate urban decay” and that “adult businesses have impacted on crime in the area surrounding Daytona Beach.” Id.
David Smith, an assistant state attorney who had prosecuted drug and prostitution offenses in Daytona Beach, also testified that “ ‘most definitely’ there were more drug and prostitution offenses in topless bars than in other bars.” Id. at 548. Based in part on this testimony by Lang-ston and Smith, the district court in Function Junction upheld the zoning ordinances. Id. at 552.
In 1993, the City enacted several amendments to the zoning ordinances that, among other things, required adult theaters to obtain pre-approval from a Technical Review Committee before being able to open and operate in the BA districts. In a First Amendment challenge brought by several adult theaters, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida entered a preliminary injunction preventing the City from enforcing the 1993 amendments because, the court found, the plaintiffs were likely to prevail at trial on their claims.
Red-Eyed Jack, Inc. v. City of Daytona Beach,
While the
Redr-Eyed Jack
litigation was still pending, the City amended its zoning ordinances still again to eliminate the constitutional infirmities identified by the district court.
4
Relevant here, the City once
B. Nudity Ordinances
In conjunction with the zoning ordinances adopted in 1981, the City enacted Ordinance 81-334 to prohibit nudity and sexual conduct in establishments that serve alcohol.
9
Specifically, in any estab
By 2001, the City of Daytona Beach became cоncerned that some bars were exploiting a loophole in Ordinance 81-334 by separating alcohol and nudity within a single structure but allowing for ready access between the two areas. The City also became increasingly concerned that lewd and lascivious conduct within adult theaters was increasing and that nudity in streets, parks, and other public places was especially a problem during events such as Spring Break and Black College Reunion.
Motivated by these perceived concerns, the City enacted Ordinance 02-496 to reduce “lewd and lascivious behavior, prostitution, sexual assaults and batteries, ... other criminal activity, ... [the] degradation of women, and ... activities which break down family structures and values.”
10
In fact, Ordinance 02^496 was enacted as a general public nudity ordinance and prohibited any person over ten years of age from “recklessly, knowingly, or in
On December 10, 2003, Lollipop’s brought this suit challenging the constitutionality of the zoning ordinances and of Ordinances 81-334, 02-496, and 03-375. First, Lollipop’s claimed that the zoning ordinances do not offer reasonable alternative venues for adult theaters to communicate their erotic message because an insufficient number of sites are available for adult theaters. Alternatively, Lollipop’s claimed that it was “grandfathered in” as a lawful nonconforming use under Florida law. The district judge, who also presided over the Red-Eyed, Jack litigation, granted summary judgment to the City of Daytona Beach on both claims, noting that the City had made no changes to the zoning ordinances since his decision in Red-Eyed Jack II and that Lollipop’s provided no evidence that warranted a departure from the earlier decision.
Second, Lollipop’s challenged Ordinances 81-334, 02-496, and 03-375, urging that they neither further a substantial government interest nor are narrowly tailored. The district court granted final summary judgment to the City on Lollipop’s narrow tailoring claim, but concluded that there was a genuine issue of material fact about whether the three nudity ordinances furthered a substantial government interest. Thereafter, at a six-day bench trial, Lollipop’s presented expert testimony in an effort to cast direct doubt on the City’s rationale for enacting the nudity ordinances. The experts explained at trial that they had conducted two empirical studies using data provided by the City. They concluded based on the data they examined that adult theaters in Daytona Beach had no statistically significant effect on crime rates, and that the City’s evidence offered to the contrary was “shoddy” and “meaningless.”
The district court agreed and concluded that Lollipop’s evidence cast direct doubt on the City’s rationale for enacting the nudity ordinances:
Plaintiffs have succeeded in their attempt to cast direct doubt on the City’s rationales for its ordinances. As persuasively demonstrated by Plaintiffs’ expert studies, the City’s pre-enactment evidence consists either of purely anecdotal evidence or opinions based on highly unreliable data. Most notably, the City’s evidence lacks data which would allow for a comparison of the rate of crime occurring in and around adult entertainment establishments with thе rate of crime occurring in and around similarly situated establishments. Absent the context that such a comparison might provide, the City’s data is, as Plaintiffs assert, “meaningless.”
The court also determined that the additional evidence provided by the City in an effort to renew support for the ordinances was similarly flawed. The district court, therefore, held that Ordinances 81-334, 02-496, and 03-375 did not further a substantial government interest and declared that they violated the First Amendment. In fact, the district court struck all three nudity ordinances in their entirety, except for subsection 10-6(e) of the Daytona Beach Code (enacted by Ordinance 81-334) because that subsection regulates non-expressive conduct.
These appeals followed: Lollipop’s argued that the district court had improvidently entered summary judgment for the City on its challenge to the zoning ordinances, as well as, on its claim to- grandfather status. The City, in turn, cross-appealed the court’s determination that the three nudity ordinances were unconstitu
II. Zoning Ordinances
The City’s zoning ordinances do not ban adult theaters altogether but do restrict them to the BA and M-5 zoning districts and, in the BA districts, impose distance requirements between adult theaters and churches, schools, parks, playgrounds, and other adult businesses.
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We review the constitutionality of a city ordinance
de novo. See Peek-A-Boo Lounge of Bradenton, Inc. v. Manatee County,
It is by now well-established that zoning ordinances limiting the locations where adult businesses may be located are evaluated under the three-part test for time, place, and manner regulations established in
City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc.,
first, the court must determine whether the ordinance constitutes an invalid total ban or merely a time, place, and manner regulation; second, if the ordinance is determined to be a time, place, and manner regulation, the court must decide whether the ordinance should be subject to strict or intermediate scrutiny; and third, if the ordinance is held to be subject to intermediate scrutiny, the court must determine whether it is designed to serve a substantial government interest and allows for reasonable alternative channels of communication.
Peekr-A-Boo Lounge,
A new zoning regime must leave adult businesses with a “reasonable opportunity to relocate,” and “the number of sites available for adult businesses under the new zoning regime must be greater than or equal to the number of adult businesses in existence at the time the new zoning regime takes effect.”
Fly Fish, Inc. v. City of Cocoa Beach,
We have enumerated several “general rules” to aid in deciding whether a particular site is available for First Amendment purposes:
First, the economic feasibility of relocating to a site is not a First Amendment concern. Second, the fact that some development is required before a site can accommodate an adult business does not mean that the land is, per se, unavailable for First Amendment purposes. The ideal lot is often not to be found. Examples of impediments to the relocation of an adult business that may not be of a constitutional magnitude include having to build a new facility instead of moving into an existing building; having to clean up waste or landscape a site; bearing the costs of generally applicable lighting, parking, or green space requirements; making [do] with less space than one desired; or having to purchase a larger lot than one needs. Third, the First Amendment is not concerned with restraints that are not imposed by the government itself or the physical characteristics of the sites designated for adult use by the zoning ordinance. It is of no import under Renton that the real estate market may be tight and sites currently unavailable for sale or lease, or that property owners may be reluctant to sell to an adult venue.
David Vincent,
Here, the district court relied on its earlier finding in
Redr-Eyed Jack II
that twenty-five sites — twenty-four in the M-5 district and one in the BA district — are available for adult theaters.
Lollipop’s vigorously disagrees, contending that the M-5 district is no more than “unimproved industrial property” and that, therefore, the twenty-four lots in the M-5 district cannot count as being “available” under Renton. The undisputed historical facts concerning the M-5 district are these: (1) telephone and power lines extend through the interior of the M-5 district along a now-paved road; (2) water and sewer lines have been installed up to the boundary of the M-5 district; (3) a preliminary plat has been approved for fifty-five acres of the M-5 district that would create at least twenty-four one-acre sites fronting the now-paved road; and (4) the entire M-5 district is owned by a single private landowner, not by the City. Id. at 1372,1374.
Under the applicable case law, these undisputed facts yield the conclusion that the twenty-four sites in the M-5 district are available for First Amendment purposes. It is irrelevant for our purposes that all of the land in the M-5 district is owned by a single private landowner who may be reluctant or unwilling to develop or sell the land.
See David Vincent,
200 F.3d
Although we have acknowledged that “the physical characteristics of a site or the character of current development could render relocation by an adult business unreasonable,” examples of such unavailable sites are “land under the ocean, airstrips of international airports, and sports stadiums.” Id. at 1335. Here, the land in the M-5 district is hardly comparable to such sites, where relocation is, for all practical purposes, untenable. Finally, the City has removed the legal obstacles that might have prevented adult theaters from relocating to the M-5 district, and has gone so far as to approve a preliminary plat for a fifty-five-acre subdivision straddling the main road in the M-5 district. Cf. id. at 1335 (“[T]he First Amendment is not concerned with restraints that are not imposed by the government itself....”). In short, we agree with the district court that the twenty-four sites in the M-5 district are available under Renton. And because the record shows that no more than ten adult theaters are operating or seeking to operate in Daytona Beach, the zoning ordinances are constitutional; reasonable alternative channels of communication are available.
Lollipop’s also claims that, even if the zoning ordinances are constitutionаl, Lollipop’s is otherwise “grandfathered in” under Florida law.
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Lollipop’s argument is grounded on the contention that the zoning ordinances were unconstitutional at the time that Lollipop’s began operating as an adult theater. Although the City may now have cured the earlier constitutional defects, Lollipop’s argues that no valid law made Lollipop’s unlawful when it opened. Thus, according to Lollipop’s, its right to operate at its current location “vested” at that time, and it may continue to operate there despite any subsequent changes to the zoning ordinances that rendered it a nonconforming use.
18
The district court granted summary judgment to the City on this claim too, and we review the district court’s determination
de novo. See Reserve, Ltd. v. Town of Longboat Key,
“Not surprisingly, vested rights are not created easily” under Florida law.
Coral Springs St. Sys., Inc. v. City of Sunrise,
III. Nudity Ordinances
We analyze the three nudity ordinances challenged here under the four-part test for expressive conduct set forth by the Supreme Court in
United States v. O’Brien,
According to this test, public nudity ordinances that incidentally impact protected expression should be upheld if they (1) are within the constitutional power of the government to enact; (2) further a substantial governmental interest; (3) are unrelated to the suppression of free expression; and (4) restrict First Amendment freedoms no greater than necessary to further the government’s interest.
Peekr-A-Boo Lounge,
A. Substantial Government Interest
Under
O’Brien’s,
second prong, a city must establish that the challenged ordinance furthers a substantial government interest.
Pap’s A.M.,
As for whether an ordinance “furthers” this interest, a city bears the initial burden of producing evidence that it relied upon to reach the conclusion that the ordinance furthers the city’s interest in reducing secondary effects.
Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
Once a city has provided evidence that it reasonably believed to be relevant to its rationale for enacting the ordinance, plaintiffs must be given the opportunity to “cast direct doubt on this rationale,” either by demonstrating that the city’s evidence does not support its rationale or by furnishing evidence that disputes the city’s factual findings.
Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
Although the burden lies with the municipality, a court “should be careful not to substitute its own judgment for that of the [municipality,]” and the municipality’s “legislative judgment should be upheld provided that [it] can show that its judgment is still supported by credible evidence, upon which [it] reasonably relies.”
Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
Here, the City of Daytona Beach plainly carried its initial burden to show that the three challenged nudity ordinances furthered its interest in reducing the negative secondary effects associated with adult theaters. The City has produced a substantial body of evidence that it reasonably believed to be relevant to combating those problems. Ordinance 81-334 prohibits nudity and sexual conduct in establishments that serve alcohol. As the Ordinance itself says, the City’s rationale was to reduce the negative secondary effects associated with adult theaters:
It is hereby found that the acts prohibited in [this ordinance] encourage the conduct of prostitution, attempted rape, rape, murder, and assaults on police officers in and around establishments dealing in alcoholic beverages, that actual and simulated nudity and sexual conduct and the depiction thereof coupled with alcohol in public places begets undesirable behavior, that sexual, lewd, lascivious, and salacious conduct among patrons and employees within establishments dеaling in alcoholic beverages results in violation of law and dangers to the health, safety and welfare of the public....
Ordinance 81-334 § 2. To support this rationale, Ordinance 81-334 cites two Supreme Court decisions,
New York State Liquor Authority v. Bellanca,
Although the City’s reliance on these cases may be sufficient to carry the City’s initial burden,
see Pap’s A.M.,
This legislative history supporting the enactment of Ordinance 81-334 is more than sufficient to carry the City’s initial burden under
O’Brien’s
second prong.
See, e.g., Alameda Books,
As for Ordinances 02-496 and 03-375, the City likewise carried its initial burden of proof. Ordinance 02-496 was enacted as a general public nudity ordinance “to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare” of the City’s residents. Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 62-181(a),
enacted by
Ordinance 02-496 § 14. The Ordinance sets forth the following findings: “The appearance of persons in the nude in public places ... increases incidents of lewd and lascivious behavior, prostitution, sexual assaults and batteries, attracts other criminal activity to the community, encourages degradation of women, and facilitates other activities which break down family structures and values.” Ordinance 02-496 § 5. To support these findings, the City relied on, among other things, newspaper articles describing incidents of public nudity and other criminal activity during Spring Break and Black College Reunion,
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narrative reports by undercover detectives describing instances of sexual conduct, nudity, and violations of Ordinance 81-334 by
Ordinance 03-375 amended Ordinance 02-496 to allow erotic dancers to wear G-strings and pasties within an adult theater located more than 500 feet from an establishment that serves alcohol, but Ordinance 02-496’s somewhat more restrictive clothing requirements
25
remain applicable within 500 feet of such an establishment. Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 62-184(b),
enacted by
Ordinance 03-375 § 9. In support of Ordinance 03-375, the City relied on Mr. Langston’s and Mr. Smith’s testimony from
Function Junction, Inc.,
The City also relied on several controlled studies conducted by Dr. William George about the relationship between drinking alcohol and sexual conduct. Thus, for example, one study found that exposure to erotica led male subjects to drink more alcohol than did exposure to non-erotic materials.
27
Another study found that young men who believed they had consumed alcohol — regardless of whether they had in fact done so — displayed greater interest in viewing violent and/or erotic images and reported increased sexual arousal than young men who believed they had not consumed alcohol.
28
Still another study found that study participants perceived a woman they believed had consumed alcohol as being “significantly more aggressive, impaired, sexually available, and as significantly more likely to engage in foreplay and intercourse” than a woman whom study participants believed had not consumed alcohol.
29
Because the City carried its initial burden, the district court properly gave Lollipop’s the opportunity to “cast direct doubt” on the City’s rationale, either by demonstrating that the City’s evidence does not support its rationale or by furnishing evidence that disputes the City’s factual findings.
See Pap’s A.M.,
To buttress their critique of the City’s evidence, Lollipop’s experts conducted two empirical studies. The first study analyzed CAD data provided by the City for the forty-four months preceding Ordinance 81-334’s enactment “to examine the relationship between the presence of adult cabarets in areas and the rates of crime in those areas.” (Id. at 3.) The experts compared CAD data from areas that had adult theaters to control areas that did not and “found no statistically significant differences in overall rates of crime between study and control areas.” (Id. at 4.) They concluded that their empirical study “cast grave doubt on the findings of the City Commission that the combination of nude (topless) dancing аnd alcohol increase[s] ‘rape, attempted rape, murder, and assaults on police officers.’ ” (Id. at 2 (quoting Ordinance 81-334 § 2).)
The second empirical study focused on the City’s rationale for Ordinances 02-496 and 03-375 and examined CAD data from March 1999 to April 2003. This study compared the presence of an adult theater to other “demographic variables previously used by criminologists and found to be related to criminal activity, such as a local area’s population, age structure (especially the presence of young adults),” “race/ethnic composition,” “housing vacancies,” “female-headed households,” and “the number of alcohol retail sale establishments.”
(Id.
at 56;
see also id.
at 186.) Based on their statistical analysis, Lollipop’s experts concluded that these other variables “were statistically strongly related to crime events,” whereas the presence of an adult
The district court agreed with Lollipop’s experts that the City’s pre-enactment evidence for all three nudity ordinances was “shoddy” and “meaningless.” It concluded that Lollipop’s had succeeded in casting direct doubt on the City’s rationale for each ordinance and declared all three nudity ordinances unconstitutional. The district court said that Lollipop’s experts’ “scientific” studies cast direct doubt on the City’s “anecdotal” evidence primarily because the court read the Supreme Court’s decision in Alameda Books and our opinion in Peekr-A-Boo Lounge to have “raised the bar somewhat” on Renton’s “reasonably believed to be relevant” standard. (Dist. Ct. Am. Order 9-10.)
In Alameda Books, the plurality explained the Renton standard this way:
In Renton, we specifically refused to set such a high bar for municipalities that want to address merely the secondary effects of protected speech. We held that a municipality may rely on any evidence that is “reasonably believed to be relevant” for demonstrating a connection between speech and a substantial, independent government interest.
Alameda Books,
We do not agree, however, with Lollipop’s claim that either
Alameda Books
or
Peek-A-Boo Lounge
raises the evidentiary bar or requires a city to justify its ordinances with empirical evidence or scientific studies. Justice Kennedy’s
Alameda Books
concurrence, which all parties agree states the holding of that case under the rationale explained in
Marks v. United States,
[W]e have consistently held that a city must have latitude to experiment, at least at the outset, and that very little evidence is required. “The First Amendment does not require a city, before enacting such an ordinance, to conduct new studies or produce evidence independent of that already generated by other cities, so long as whatever evidence the city relies upon is reasonably believed to bе relevant to the problem that the city addresses.”
Alameda Books,
Here, Lollipop’s argument that the City’s evidence is flawed because it consists of “anecdotal” accounts rather than “empirical” studies essentially asks this Court to hold today that the City’s reliance on anything but empirical studies based on scientific methods is unreasonable. This was not the law before
Alameda Books,
and it is not the law now.
See Alameda Books,
To be sure, as the
Alameda Books
plurality admonished, the City cannot “get away with shoddy data or reasoning,” and its evidence must “fairly support” its rationale.
See
Our review is designed to determine whether
the City’s
rationale was a reasonable one, and even if Lollipop’s demonstrates that another conclusion was also reasonable, we cannot simply substitute our own judgment for the City’s.
See Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
The City of Daytona Beach relied on, among other things, the Supreme Court’s decisions in
Bellanca, LaRue, Barnes,
and
Pap’s A.M.;
numerous police reports of criminal activity — including prostitution and assaults on police officers — in and around adult theaters; undercover police investigations that revealed numerous violations of City ordinances by adult theaters; the City’s police chiefs documentation of criminal activity in and around adult theaters; CAD data showing calls-for-serviee to police dispatchers from areas near adult theaters; extensive testimony taken in
Function Junction,
Moreover, a close examination of Lollipop’s experts’ studies calls into question their stated conclusion that they “east grave doubt” on the City’s evidence that adult theaters increase crime, and, equally important, the studies do not even purport to address the City’s evidence that adult theaters tend more generally to perpetuate urban blight and decay. First, one underlying methodological problem with both studies suggests that they cast little or no doubt on the City’s evidence that nudity in establishments that serve alcohol encourages “prostitution, ... undesirablе behavior ..., [and] sexual, lewd, lascivious, and salacious conduct among patrons and employees ... in violation of law and [endangers ... the health, safety and welfare of the public.”
See
Ordinance 81-334 § 2. The experts’ studies are based solely on CAD data, which, in lay terms, is essentially 911 emergency call data. Relying on such data to study crime rates is problematic, however, because many crimes do not result in calls to 911, and, therefore, do not have corresponding records in the City’s CAD data.
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This is especially true
Such crimes are often “victimless,” in the sense that all of those involved are willing participants, and, therefore, they rarely result in calls to 911. College students on Spring Break are unlikely to call 911 after a wild night out on the town despite having participated in exactly the sort of activity that the City’s nudity ordinances were enacted to reduce. Likewise, an encounter between a prostitute and a “john” rarely leads to a 911 call. By contrast, the City’s “anecdotal” evidence may be a more accurate assessment of such crimes because it is not based on a data set that undercounts the incidents of such “victimless” crimes.
Cf. World Wide Video of Wash., Inc. v. City of Spokane,
A second problem with Lollipop’s experts’ studies is that, even if the underlying CAD data fully reflected all of the conduct that Daytona Beach sought to reduce, the experts appear to draw conclusions that overstate the underlying data. For example, the study that focuses on Ordinance 81-334 concludes that “crimes against persons, crimes against property, and sex crimes, including both rape and prostitution[,] are not more common in areas with adult businesses than they are in similar control areas.” (Experts’ Report 2.) But the experts’ own underlying data suggests otherwise — for three of the six pairs of study and control areas that the experts examined, “the study areas [i.e., areas with adult theaters,] do show significantly higher rates of crime than the control areas.” (Id. at 29-30 (emphasis added).)
The experts attempt to explain away this result by pointing to the other three pairs — two show no “significant” difference between study and control areas, and one shows a significantly higher crime rate in the control area than the study area. The
Finally, both studies focus only on criminal activity and do not even purport to address the connection between adult theaters and urban blight. Ordinance 03-375, which amended Ordinance 02-496, was supported by testimony from
Function Junction
that adult theaters promote and perpetuate urban blight, which in Daytona Beach was characterized by “a significant percentage of deteriorating structures; a large number of small ... lots, which did not allow cars; a notable parking problem; a high incidence of crime, particularly, on the beachside; and a large percentage of antiquated, underground utility systems, such as drainage, water and sewer systems.”
In short, the CAD data relied on by both studies may substantially undercount incidents of many of the types of crime that the City sought to reduce; the data that the studies did analyze show some statistically significant correlations between adult theaters and increased criminal activity; and the studies completely fail to address evidence of increased urban blight and decay that the City reasonably relied on when enacting Ordinance 03-375. Thus, Lollipop’s has failed to cast direct doubt on all of the evidence that the City reasonably relied on when enacting the challenged ordinances.
See Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
B. Narrow Tailoring
Under the fourth prong of the
O’Brien
test, an ordinance that imposes a reasonable time, place, or manner restriction on nudity must be “no greater than is essential to the furtherance of the government interest.”
Pap’s A.M.,
Lest any confusion on the point remain, we reaffirm today that a regulation of the time, place, or manner of protected speech must be narrowly tailored to serve the government’s legitimate, content-neutral interests but that it need not be the least restrictive or least intrusive means of doing so. Rather, the requirement of narrow tailoring is satisfied “so long as the ... regulation promotes a substantial government interest that would be achieved less effectively absent the regulation.”
Ward v. Rock Against Racism,
Here, the combinеd effect of Ordinances 81-334, 02-496, and 03-375 is that at least G-strings and pasties are required in all adult theaters regardless of location, and that Ordinance 02-496’s slightly more modest clothing requirements apply at establishments that either serve alcohol or are located within 500 feet of an establishment that serves alcohol. Lollipop’s argues that requiring more than G-strings and pasties at establishments that serve alcohol imposes a greater restriction than is necessary to further the City’s substantial interest in reducing negative secondary effects:
Appellants are claiming, at a minimum, that adults have a right to perform in pasties and G-strings where alcohol is served. Appellants further argue that the City’s ordinances are unduly restrictive because they should allow pasties and G-strings at more locations. Appellants’ claim should be understood in the broadest terms: government simply has no business telling adults what they can and cannot wear beyond a simple prohibition against nudity.
(Appellants’/Cross Appellees’ Resp. & Reply Br. 22-23 (emphasis in original).)
We break no new ground in rejecting Lollipop’s argument. It is well-established that a nudity ordinance that imposes a minimum requirement of G-strings and pasties is narrowly tailored under
O’Brien. See Pap’s A.M.,
So too, the First Amendment does not prevent a city from limiting the venues where dancers may communicate their erotic message. An ordinance that “does not prohibit all nude dancing, but only restricts nude dancing in those locations where the unwanted secondary effects arise,” is narrowly tailored.
Wise Enters.,
IV. Conclusion
Accordingly, we hold that all of the City’s ordinances challenged in this lawsuit are constitutional. We AFFIRM the district court’s decision upholding the City’s zoning ordinances; we REVERSE the district court’s decision striking down Ordinances 81-334, 02-496, and 03-375; and we REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, and REMANDED.
Notes
. See Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 81-292 (Sept. 16, 1981); see also Dаytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 82-67 (Feb. 17, 1982) (amending the definition of "adult theater”).
. The zoning ordinances define “adult theater,” in relevant part, as "[a] use which exhibits any motion picture, exhibition, show, live show, representation, or other presentation which, in whole or in part, depicts nudity, sexual conduct, [or] sexual excitement.” Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 82-67 § 1 (Feb., 17, 1982), codified at Daytona Beach, Fla., Land Dev.Code art. II, § 3.1 (2001).
. Ordinance 81-292 added new provisions to and amended existing provisions of the City’s zoning ordinances then in effect in order "[t]o reduce the adverse impacts of adult bookstores and adult theaters upon the City's neighborhoods.” Ordinance 81-292 § 4. The Ordinance added definitions for “adult theater” and "adult bookstore,” amended various provisions of the existing zoning ordinances for consistency, and, most importantly, added new sections to limit the locations where these adult businesses could open and operate. Those sections provided:
51.2.1Adult bookstores and adult theaters shall be permitted as a matter of right in BA, BA-1, and BA-2 Districts. These adult uses shall not pyramid into or be allowed within the BW Districts.
51.2.2 It shall be unlawful to locate any adult theater and adult bookstore within 400 feet of any area of the City zoned R-laa, R-la, R-la(l), R-lb, R-lc, R-2, R-2a, RA, R-2b, RP, R-3, PUD, T-l or T-2.
51.2.3 It shall be unlawful to locate any adult bookstore and adult theater within 1,000 feet of any other such adult bookstores or adult theaters.
51.2.4 It shall be unlawful to locate any adult bookstore and adult theater within 400 feet of any church, school, public park or playground, or any other public or semi-public place or assembly where large numbers of minors regularly travel or congregate.
51.2.5 Distances in 51.2.3 and 51.2.4 shall be measured from рroperty line to property line, without regard to the route of normal travel.
Ordinance 81-292 § 4. The Ordinance also limited adult businesses' use of outside advertising signs, prohibited them from painting their buildings in "garish colors,” and required that all windows and doors be “blacked or otherwise obstructed” to block visibility of the inside from outside. Id.
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 01-367 § 1 (Sept. 5, 2001). Ordinance 01-367 enacted the substantive provisions that are currently in force in the BA districts:
Adult bookstores and adult theaters are permitted as of right in BA districts. The purpose of the conditions is to reduce the adverse impacts of adult bookstores and adult theaters upon neighborhoods by avoiding the concentration of uses which cause or intensify physical and social blight; improving visual appearance of adult uses; reducing negative impacts of adult uses upon other business uses, neighborhood property values, residential areas, and public and semi-public uses; insuring that adult uses do not impede redevelopment and neighborhood revitalization efforts; and avoiding adult uses in heavily used pedestrian areas. The following conditions must be met:
(a) It shall be unlawful to locate any adult bookstore or adult theater within 400 feet of any residential, R-PUD, T-l, or T-2 district.
(b) It shall be unlawful to locate any adult bookstore or adult theater within 1,000 feet of any other adult theater or adult bookstore.
(c) It shall be unlawful to locate any adult bookstore or adult theater within 400 feet of any church, school, public park, or playground, or any other public or semi-public place of assembly wherelarge numbers of minors regularly travel or congregate.
(d) Distances shall be measured from property line to prоperty line, without regard to the route of normal travel.
(e) Outside advertising shall be limited to one identification sign, not to exceed 20 square feet. Advertisements, displays, or other promotional materials shall not be shown or exhibited to be visible to the public from a pedestrian sidewalk or walkway or from other public or semi-public areas; and such displays shall be considered signs.
(f) Buildings shall not be painted in garish colors or such other fashion as will effectuate the same purpose as a sign. All windows, doors, and other apertures shall be blacked or otherwise obstructed so as to prevent viewing of the interior of the establishment from without.
Daytona Beach, Fla., Land Dev.Code art. XI, § 3.2 (2001).
. The distance requirements between adult theaters and churches, schools, parks, playgrounds, and other adult businesses remain in effect.
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinances 01-456 & 01-457 (Oct. 17, 2001).
. Initially, the City zoned twenty acres as M-5, but after the district court entered still another injunction based on its finding that the City still did not provide a sufficient number of sites where adult theaters could open and operate, the City zoned as M-5 an additional 190 acres adjacent to the original twenty acres. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 03-195 (May 7, 2003);
see also Red-Eyed Jack, Inc. v. City of Daytona Beach,
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 03-196 (May 7, 2003).
. In relevant part, Ordinance 81-334 provides:
(a) No person shall expose to public view such person’s genitals, pubic area, vulva, anus, anal cleft or cleavage or buttocks or any simulation thereof in an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
(b) No female person shall expose to public view any portion of her breasts below the top of the areola or any simulation thereof in an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
(c) No person maintaining, owning, or operating an establishmеnt dealing in alcoholic beverages shall suffer or permit any person to expose to public view such person’s genitals, pubic area, vulva, anus, anal cleft or cleavage or buttocks or simulation thereof within the establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
(d) No person maintaining, owning, or operating an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages shall suffer or permit any female person to expose to public view any portion of her breasts below the top of the areola or any simulation thereof within the establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
(e) No person shall engage in and no person maintaining, owning, or operating an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages shall suffer or permit any sexual intercourse; masturbation; sodomy; bestiality; oral copulation; flagellation; sexual act which is prohibited by law; touching, caressing or fondling of the breasts, buttocks, anus or genitals; or the simulation thereof within an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
(£) No person shall cause and no person maintaining, owning or operating an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages shall suffer or permit the exposition of any graphic representation, including pictures or the projection of film, which depicts human genitals; pubic area; vulva; anus; anal cleft or cleavage; buttocks; female breasts below the top of the areola; sexual intercourse; masturbation; sodomy; bestiality; oral copulation; flagellation; sexual act prohibited by law; touching, caressing or fondling of the breasts, buttoсks, anus, or genitals; or any simulation thereof within any establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages.
Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 81-334 § 1 (Oct. 21, 1981), codified at Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 10-6 (2001). Section 2 of Ordinance 81-334, although not codified in the City's Code of Ordinances, provides the City's rationale for Ordinance 81-334’s enactment:
It is hereby found that the acts prohibited in Section 1 above encourage the conduct of prostitution, attempted rape, rape, murder, and assaults on police officers in and around establishments dealing in alcoholic beverages, that actual and simulated nudity and sexual conduct and the depiction thereof coupled with alcohol in public places begets undesirable behavior, that sexual, lewd, lascivious, and salacious conduct among patrons and employees within establishments dealing in alcoholic beverages results in violation of law and dangers to the health, safety and welfare of the public, and it is the intent of this ordinance to prohibit nudity, gross sexuality, and the simulation and depiction thereof in establishments dealing in alcoholic beverages.
Id. § 2.
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 02-496 § 5 (Oct. 2, 2002).
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 62-183(a), (b), enacted by Ordinance 02-496 § 14.
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 62-183(c), enacted by Ordinance 02-496 § 14. Ordinance 02-496 added Article VI, "Public Nudity,” to Chapter 62 of the City’s Code of Ordinances. Article VI first states the City’s purpose for adding a public nudity prohibition to the City’s Code of Ordinances:
(a) It is the intent of this article to protect and preserve the health, safety and welfare of the people of The City of Daytona Beach by prohibiting any person from recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally appearing nude in a public place, or recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally causing or permitting another person to appear nude in a public plаce within the City, subject to the exceptions provided in § 62-[184].
(b) The City Commission has further expressed its intent and findings in Ordinance 02-496, adopting this article.
Daytona Beach Code § 62-181. After defining the terms "breast,” "buttocks,” "public place provided or set apart for nudity,” and "public place,” see id. § 62-182, Article VI then lists the following substantive prohibitions:
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person ten years of age or older to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally appear in a public place, or to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally cause or permit another person ten years of age or older to appear in a public place in a state of dress or undress such that any of the following body parts or portions thereof are exposed to view or are covered with anything other than a full and opaque covering which completely covers all of the described area:
(1) The male or female genitals, pubic area, or anal cleavage.
(2) The nipple and areola of the female breast; and in addition at least one-half of that outside surface area of the breast located below the top of the areola, which area shall be reasonably compact and contiguous to the areola.
(3)One third of the male or female buttocks centered over the cleavage of the buttocks for the length of the cleavage. This area is more particularly described as that portion of the buttocks which lies between the top and bottom of the buttocks, and between two imaginary straight lines, one on each side of the anus and each line bеing located one-third of the distance from the anus to the outside perpendicular line defining the buttocks, and each line being perpendicular to the ground and to the horizontal lines defining the buttocks.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally appear in a public place, or to recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally cause or permit another person to appear in a public place in a manner as to show or display the covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
(c) Attire which is insufficient to comply with these requirements includes but is not limited to those items commonly known as G-strings, T-backs, dental floss, and thongs.
(d) Body paint, body dye, tattoos, latex, tape, or any similar substance applied to the skin surface, any substance that can be washed off the skin, or any substance designed to simulate or which by its nature simulates the appearance of the anatomical area beneath it, is not full and opaque covering as required by this section.
Id. § 62-183. Article VI then provides that "[t]he offense of public nudity or exposure as set forth in section 62-183 shall not occur in any of the following instances:”
(1) When a person appears nude in a public place provided or set apart for nudity,and such person is nude for the sole purpose of performing a legal function that is customarily intended to be performed within such public place, and such person is not nude for the purpose of obtaining money or other financial gain for such person or for another person or entity; or
(2) When the conduct of being nude cannot constitutionally be prohibited by this section because it constitutes a part of a bona fide live communication, demonstration, or performance by such person wherein such nudity is expressive conduct incidental to and necessary for the conveyance or communication of a genuine message or public expression, and is not a guise or pretense utilized to exploit nudity for profit or commercial gain; or
(3) When the conduct of being nude cannot constitutionally be prohibited by this section because it is otherwise protected by the United States Constitution or the Florida Constitution.
Id. § 62-184(a) (citations omitted).
. Daytona Beach, Fla., Ordinance 03-375 § 9 (Aug. 20, 2003), codified at Daytona Beach, Fla., Code § 62-184(b). Ordinance 03-375 added the following exception to the City’s Code of Ordinances:
(1) In the course of the presentation of erotic dance or other artistic expression which is entitled to first amendment protection within a fully enclosed structure legally established as an adult theater as defined in the Land Development Code:
a. The breast covering required by subsection 62-183 (a)(2) shall not be required, except that nipples and areolae shall be covered.
b. The buttocks covering required by subsection 62-183(a)(3) shall not be required, and subsection 62-183(c) shall not apply.
Daytona Beach Code § 62-184(b)(l), enacted by Ordinance 03-375 § 9.
. Specifically, the more modest clothing requirements apply to an adult theater that:
a. is located in the same structure as an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ... unless the closest point of the premises of the alcoholic beverage establishment is more than 500 feet from the boundary line of the adult theater use; or
b. is located under the same roоf as an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ... unless the closest point of the premises of the alcoholic beverage establishment is more than 500 feet from the boundary line of the adult theater use; or
c. shares any wall, floor, or ceiling with an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ...; or
d. shares an entry area with an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ...; or
e. provides for or permits the interior passage of customers directly or indirectly between it and an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ..., whether or not a separate cover or admission fee is charged; or
f. is located adjacent or next door to an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ...; or
g. is located within 500 feet of an establishment dealing in alcoholic beverages ..., measured from property line of one use to property line of the other use, including parking areas and other appurtenances associated with each use; or
h. is not legally authorized to operate as an adult theater.
. Lollipop’s also claimed in the district court that it is exempt from Ordinance 02-496 by its own terms, but the district court had no occasion to rule on this claim because it declared Ordinance 02-496 unconstitutional. Because Lollipop's does not raise this argument on appeal, the claim is deemed abandoned.
See Access Now, Inc. v. Southwest Airlines Co.,
. In BA districts, an adult theater must be located at least 400 feet from "any residential, R-PUD, T-l, or T-2 district,” 400 feet from any church, school, park, playground, or "any other public or semi-public place of assembly where largе numbers of minors regularly travel or congregate,” and 1000 feet from other adult businesses. Daytona Beach, Fla., Land Dev.Code art. XI, § 3.2 (2001).
. The Constitution does not require a ''grandfathering” provision for existing nonconforming adult businesses,
David Vincent,
. Lollipop’s is located at 639 Grandview Avenue in Daytona Beach, Florida, and has been operating as an adult theater there since October 2000. Although the City disputes when Lollipop’s began operating as an adult theater, Lollipop’s claim to grandfather status was decided in the district court on the City's motion for summary judgment, and therefore we construe the record in the light most favorable to Lollipop’s.
. In
Pap’s AM.,
like some of the Supreme Court's other decisions in this area, there was no majority opinion on the First Amendment issue before the Court. Justice O'Connor wrote a plurality opinion, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Kennedy and Breyer, which upheld under
O’Brien
the constitutionality of the nudity ordinance at issue.
Pap’s A.M.,
.
Alameda Books
addressed the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance under the
Renton
framework, rather than a public nudity ordinance under the
O’Brien
framework. We have explained, however, that the third step of the
Renton
analysis, which asks whether an ordinance "is designed to serve” a substantial government interest, is “virtually indistinguishable” from the second prong of the
O’Brien
test, which asks whether an ordinance "furthers” a substantial government interest.
Peek-A-Boo Lounge,
There was no majority opinion in
Alameda Boolcs.
Justice O’Connor wrote a plurality opinion, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Thomas, that applied
Renton
and concluded that the zoning ordinance at issue was constitutional.
Alameda Books,
. Just as in
Alameda Books
and
Pap’s AM.,
a majority of the Court in
Barnes
did not support a single rationale explaining the result. The plurality opinion written by Chief Justice Rehnquist, joined by Justices O’Connor and Kennedy, uрheld the regulation under the
O'Brien
framework.
Barnes,
. “CAD” stands for Computer Automated Dispatch.
. See Henry Frederick, Police Chief: Spring Break, BCR Hurt Family Tourism, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Apr. 16, 2002 (" ‘Youth-oriented street festivals like BCR and Spring Break keep family tourism away.' ”); Anne Geggis, Barter on the Beach: Beads for Breasts, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Mar. 24, 2002 ("Daytona Beach police confirm they've been seeing more than usual this year — and issuing more $104 tickets for exposure of female breasts than at previous Spring Breaks.... 'Even the chief this (past) weekend witnessed it and moved to make an arrest of a mother and daughter on Atlantic Avenue,’ says [a] spokesman for the Daytona Beach police." ... "Some are concerned the atmosphere is ripe for an incident like the New York City ‘wilding’ of 2000 during which women’s clothes were torn off their bodies.”); Audrey Párente, BCR “Shocking” for Pennsylvania Sisters, Daytona Beach News-Journal, Apr. 15, 2002, at 6A (" ‘I saw guys exposing themselves,' Miller said. Schubert said she saw '... women in small clothes — thongs and very exposing bras.... ’ Worse than the exposure, she said she saw drug use and drug sales. 'I saw a young man in a car in front of me smoking a joint and passing it from car to car. They were walking around on the road.' ”).
.For example, on March 8, 2002, several undercover investigators went to Lollipop’s "to conduct a covert inspection of the activities” there:
During this inspection, alcoholic beverages were being sold and consumed.... This writer observed bare breasted dancers performing "lap” dances involving simulated intercourse by the female dancer [who placed] her buttocks in the lap of the patron and began to manipulate her hips back and forth and up and down. While engaged in the previous activities, dancers would rub their bare breasts in the faces of the patrons and allow the patrons to lick and suck the breasts.... This writer observed every dancer to be in violation of the exposed breasts ordinance while alcohol was being served and consumed.
Daytona Beach Police Department, Florida Offense/Incident Report No. 0203103, at 1-2 (Mar. 11, 2002).
. See supra note 12.
. Although
Function Junction
was a challenge to the City's zoning ordinances,
. William H. George et ah, The Effects of Erotica Exposure on Drinking, 1 Annals Sex Res. 79 (1988).
. William H. George & G. Alan Marlatt, The Effects of Alcohol and Anger on Interest in Violence, Erotica, and Deviance, 95 J. Abnormal Psych. 150 (1986).
. William H. George et al., Perceptions of Postdrinking Female Sexuality: Effects of Gender, Beverage Choice, and Drink Payment, 1988 J. Applied Soc. Psych. 1295, 1295.
. Even if the plurality had constituted the actual holding in
Alameda Books,
the plurality also reaffirmed Renton's continued validity and explicitly refused to raise cities’ evidentia-ry burden. To the contrary, the plurality
criticized
Justice Souter’s dissent for "raispng] the evidentiary bar” by ”ask[ing] the city to demonstrate, not merely by appeal to common sense,
but also with empirical data,
that its ordinance will successfully lower crime.”
.
See
Richard McCleary & James W. Meeker,
Do Peep Shows “Cause" Crime? A Re
. Under Florida law, lewdness is at least a second-degree misdemeanor. See Fla. Stat. § 796.07.
. We also note that at least three other circuits have rejected, for similar reasons, attempts by plaintiffs to use studies based on CAD data to cast direct doubt on an ordinance that the municipality supported with evidence of the sort relied upon by the City of Daytona Beach here.
See Gammoh v. City of La Habra,
. In addition to crimes against persons, crimes against property, and sex crimes, the study that focused on Ordinance 81-334 also analyzed "miscellaneous incidents that share in common that they involve violations of social norms ...., includ[ing] drunkenness, disorderly conduct, drug offenses, liquor law violations, and weapons complaints.” (Experts' Report 27.) The study found a statistically significant increase in these so-called "norm violations” in areas with adult theaters compared to control areas, (id. at 33-34), which could be read to support part of the City's rationale for Ordinance 81-334. See Ordinance 81-334 § 2 (seeking to reduce "undesirable behavior” and "dangers to the health, safety and welfare of the public”). Similarly, the study that focused on Ordinance 02-496 found a statistically significant increase in drug related offenses in areas with adult theaters compared to control areas. (Experts' Report 80, 105 tbl.10.)
. Inasmuch as the district court concluded that Lollipop’s had cast direct doubt on the City's evidence, it allowed the City to present post-enactment evidence in an effort to renew support for a theory justifying its ordinances. But because we have concluded that Lollipop's failed to cast direct doubt on the City’s evidence, there is no need to consider the City’s post-enactment evidence.
See Alameda Books,
. Lollipop’s characterizes the additional required clothing as a "modest bikini,” (Appellant's Initial Br. 46), or a "full bathing suit[]” (Appellant’s Reply Br. 23). The City disputes this characterization, observing that "[a] 'modest bikini' certainly does not expose half of the lower female breast and two thirds of the buttocks.” (Appellee's Initial Br. 52-53.) Regardless of(whether the term “modest” accurately describes Ordinance 03-3 75's precise requirements, which are quoted above, see supra note 12, the City of Daytona Beach could impose those requirements within 500 feet of establishments that serve alcohol.
