The Vance County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Monday evening during their regular meeting on a resolution opposing “adult establishments” in Vance County.
Although the proposed site of the adult bookstore is in Henderson, Vance County Commission Chair Danny Wright felt it was necessary for the board to go on record as opposed to the bookstore.
In his motion to approve the resolution, Commissioner Eddie Wright characterized the proposed bookstore as “foolishness”. He mentioned his fears that children would find there way into the establishment.
Eddie write told members that he had voted for zoning to “zone this out of Vance County”.
Member Deborah Brown seconded the motion.
Danny Wright responded to Eddie Wright’s comments by noting that the commission “can’t zone them out.”
Brown remarked that at some point the commission will need to address “land use planning”.
“Until we take action to prevent this from happening,” Brown said, “we will always be putting out fires”.
Danny Wright noted that Henderson wants to move the bookstore into the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ). He said that he did not believe that the business would “resonate well” with prospective economic development clients.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt reacted strongly to the conjoining of the adult bookstore issue and the zoning issue. He told members that the issue is about morality and things that are wrong for the community.
“It’s wrong to confuse it with zoning,” Brummitt said.
Brummitt informed members that there are fourteen listings for adult bookstores in Wake County, a county that is fully zoned.
Brown rejoined that zoning would place [the adult bookstore] where [commissioners] want it to be.
Eddie Wright called the bookstore “the tip of the iceberg”. He said that the store could be followed by topless dancing, then massage parlors.
He said that “church folk” would end up patronizing such businesses.
Commissioner Terry Garrison voiced his support for the resolution. He said that a discussion of “lack of zoning” is something [commissioners] “need to take a look at”. Garrison said that zoning could provide “leverage” on where such businesses can be placed.
Garrison said that he hoped that citizens would look at the unintended consequences of lack of zoning.