Macomb, IL – The McDonough County Board will not consider implementing an adult entertainment ordinance just yet.
The issue was tabled indefinitely at this month's Law and Legal Committee meeting. Committee members are torn. Some feel an ordinance is needed to regulate adult entertainment businesses, while others feel it's "spot zoning."
Committee Member Alice Henry says she does not want to regulate just one type of business. "There could be many other types of businesses," says Henry. "Legal legitimate businesses that people would like to have that maybe other people in the county would not want. If we try to create an ordinance against everything we don't want, we really have a mess."
"I don't want to be perceived of being in favor of having adult entertainment facilities in the county, however, I believe that the approach we are attempting to take is a sort of spot zoning," says Henry.
Henry says if the county wants to regulate businesses, it will need to develop a framework, such as a land use ordinance. "We have real needs and real reasons that we need to control our growth and control our quality of life," says Henry.
There is not a state statute to regulate adult entertainment businesses in Illinois.