A set of ordinances restricting adult-entertainment businesses sailed through the Cortez City Council Tuesday night during a meeting that at times took on the tone of a religious revival.

More than five dozen area citizens streamed to the council chamber in order to express their opposition to all forms of sexually oriented business locating in the Cortez area.

"Our first priority should be looking at what is right for the city. Our second priority should be worrying about regulations," said Montezuma County resident Wendy Autry.

Local resident Greg Beecher asked the city council to "take the moral high ground."

"This decision will affect the city — not just this year — but 30 and 40 years down the road," Beecher said.

Beecher’s comments, along with the comments of many other Cortez residents, were followed by "amens," "hallelujahs" and "yes, sirs."

ºººIn fact, several of the speakers at Tuesday night’s meeting were representing portions of the Cortez religious community.

Over the past several months, the Cortez Planning and Zoning Commission, Cortez City Council and City Attorney Jim Hatter have been working to develop a set of ordinances which will govern adult-entertainment businesses in Cortez.

The two adopted ordinances require that:

• Adult-entertainment establishments be located in industrial zones

• Hours of operation be conducted between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

• Owners pay a $1,000 start-up license fee

• A $1,000 fine be imposed for breaking any law linked to the business

• Persons under 21 not be allowed to work or admited into an establishment where full nudity is present

• Persons under 18 not be allowed to work or admited into an establishment as falls under Cortez ordinance.

Following the discussion, city-council members made several amendments to the proposed adult-entertainment ordinances before unanimously approving them.

The ordinance describes adult-entertainment establishments as an adult arcade, book, video or novelty store, cabaret, motel or theater that presents material which, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic political or scientific value.

If there were people in the audience opposed to placing restrictions on adult-entertainment businesses, they didn’t make a peep.

Prior to the adoption of the adult-entertainment ordinances Tuesday night, no restrictions existed within the city.

"We have nothing protecting the city right now," said Cortez Mayor Joe Keck on Tuesday. "We are trying to minimize the impacts that such a business would have (on Cortez)," he said.

Residents suggested that limited hours of operation, hefty license fees, employee and owner background checks, large fines for violating the ordinances and a one-strike-and-you’re-out policy be applied to adult businesses.

Background checks would be done to ensure that sexual offenders are not operating or working in an adult-entertainment establishment.

Another public concern involved the age of employees that would be handling adult material.

Under the new ordinance, no one under the age of 21 will be allowed to work in or patronize any establishment where there is full nudity, and no one under the age of 18 will be able to work in or patronize a business where adult products are being sold or rented.

All of these suggestions were considered and adopted, to some degree, by the city council before voting on the ordinance.

As a result of the new policies, any sexually oriented business wishing to move to the area will be forced to locate in a designated industrial district in the county.

County resident Don Denison said, however, that some county residents — including himself — will not be happy with the idea of an adult-entertainment business moving in near them.

While developing the ordinances, however, the city had to take into consideration both the morals and values of area residents as well as First Amendment rights.

In order to make the ordinance defensible in court, the city could not attempt to specifically control the content of material being sold.

Building and Zoning Inspector Jeff Reinhart said that a person’s First Amendment rights are generally not violated unless that person is completely banned from setting up in an area.

Cortez City Manager Hal Shepherd said, "An industrial-park location is the best alternative for a business we don’t want."

However, some audience members disagreed with the see-no-evil-hear-no-evil philosophy — stating that "pornography thrives on anonymity."

Their solution was to put the hypothetical adult businesses in the heart of downtown where everyone could see the patrons entering and exiting.

That idea was quickly dismissed by the council.

According to the new ordinances, business hours for such an establishment will be limited from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday.

Also, the owner of an adult business will have to pay a $1,000 start-up license fee and an identical $1,000 fine for violating any ordinance — including selling explicit material to a minor.

Businesses that do wish to set up in the downtown area must limit their adult retail material to less than 15 percent of the store’s total inventory.