While Gainesville City Council takes a closer look at the city’s adult entertainment ordinance, the group has placed a freeze on the industry.

During Tuesday’s council work session, the council approved a 90-day moratorium on new adult entertainment licenses, related land use permits and development plan approvals.

The moratorium is needed as the city works to make its adult entertainment ordinance more “legally defensible,” City Manager Kip Padgett said.

While there haven’t been any issues locally, city staff say they became aware of the need to update the ordinance following recent court cases related to the industry. The goal of any amendments is to protect the city from crime and blight, often associated with the industry.

Some of the proposed changes to the ordinance include requiring such businesses to submit a list of current employees to the city marshal each month. While employees of the establishments are required to obtain a permit, the proposed
amendments would mean they must reapply each year; currently permits don’t have an expiration date.

During the meeting, the council also voted to use Tax Allocation District funds for safety and drainage improvements to the intersection of Broad Street and E.E. Butler Parkway.

City councilman George Wangemann also recommended the city relaunch its campaign to personally invite residents to City Council meetings.

“We used to (personally) invite citizens from each ward to the meetings. I know we discontinued that, but I would like to see a card created that we could fill in and deliver to residents,” Wangemann said. “I think it would be good for us to promote our meetings”

The cards would be available for each council member to use and may also include space for them to describe an agenda item that may be of interest.

The council also approved alcoholic beverage licenses for Atlas Pizza on Washington Street and Ingles Supermarket on Thompson Bridge Road.

During the meeting, the council updated its alcoholic beverages ordinance — effectively eliminating a required 75-foot buffer between outdoor areas where alcohol is sold and the public right-of-way. The updates also mandated that applicants must wait a year before submitting a new application if their alcoholic beverage license is revoked or an initial application is denied.