The Neighborhood Sex Shop

What would you do if a sexually orientated business was coming to your town?

Trucks were unloading into the vacant building next Hair for All, a family orientated hair salon located in Southington. Curious, several of the employees went over to find out what kind of new business was gracing the town. They came back with bad news. The business coming in was VIP, Very Intimate Pleasures, an adult store selling “adult” products. Having this store next to Hair For All’s family business would destroy their customer base. Concerned, they called the town hall, but they were brushed aside. They then called the newspaper.

The local newspaper, the Southington Citizen, rushed a story to print just hours before their deadline. Nobody heard about the news until the story was in the paper. In fact, members of the Southington Zoning Board were notified only days before the news broke. VIP was going in across the street from the town’s Wal-mart in the heart of their retail area, making residents uncomfortable. Something needed to be done.

Berlin residents discovered that VIP was trying to move onto the Berlin Turnpike in a similar way as well. In September of 2006 the Hartford Courant ran an article reporting that VIP was headed to a town Zoning Board of Appeals after it was denied a permit to operate on the Berlin Turnpike. This was the first time the neighbors heard the news.

“I had come home from work and on my front door two of my neighbors had left a Xeroxed, laminated flyer of the copy of that day’s Hartford Courant article.” Recalls Laura Michaud, “I didn’t get a chance to read the newspaper that day so that was the first time I had heard about it.”

One of the first concerns which ran through her mind was that how her then four year old daughter would be affected by this new business. Another was, “who would buy my house now?” Although there are other sexually orientated businesses on the Berlin Turnpike, this is the first to try to go into a retail building surrounded by residential homes.

The rest of Connecticut should take heed of what is happening to Berlin and Southington. “VIP has established a ‘modus operandi’ of stealth and subterfuge to get into towns unannounced.” says Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut, “They claim that they are not a sexually orientated business. This is a deliberate strategy to take over the state and we need to respond in kind.”

Court Battles in Berlin

After the article in the Hartford Courant, Berlin residents attended the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. About 100 people packed into the town hall to hear the proceedings and to encourage their elected Board officials to oppose VIP. The board listened and rejected VIP’s appeal for a permit, sending the town into a tangle of court battles which lasted from 2006 until the present. It will culminate in a ruling from the Federal Second Court of Appeals which is expected to hand down its ruling sometime soon.

The strongest opposition to the VIP store in Berlin is the residents of the neighborhood next to the VIP location. The residents of Webster Heights organized by exchanging emails and began meeting in a fellow resident’s home. Roughly 30 people attended the first meeting. Laura Michaud placed a six foot by eight foot sign on her lawn; painting golden yellow she printed “NO VIP!” She used it as a message board to post the minutes to the next neighborhood meetings.

The residents used the email chain to give updates on the situation and notify people when town meetings were and encouraged people to attend. Laura Michaud also designed paper bumper-stickers which some neighbors put in the back window of their cars.

Overall, the town of Berlin is in a good position to fight VIP. It has the strong regulations to prevent a business like this from foisting itself on the town. The town attorney feels confident that the court will rule in their favor. After all, past court rulings have set a legal precedent giving towns the right to limit the growth of sexually orientated businesses through zoning laws.

The Skirmish in Southington

In Southington, the citizens face what looks to be an uphill fight. On August 6th the town enforcement officer had granted the request for VIP to go ahead and set up shop. This was done without the planning and Zoning Board’s knowledge. When the story broke, the town planner, Mary Savage, was issuing statements to the press claiming that VIP complied with the town’s zoning laws and regulations. This made it look like VIP was in town and nothing could be done to change that decision, but the residents weren’t about to let this act go uncontested.

For anyone to build in a town, they must pass two check points with the Planning and Zoning board before they are “legal”. The first hurdle it to receive a permit to build or to develop their property, second, is a certificate of occupancy which just means that they developed their property and met the specifications stipulated in the town regulations and the permit. If the board rejects either the permit or the certificate of occupancy, the owner of the property can appeal the decision at the Zoning Board of Appeals.

When Southington resident Tony Luna heard the news, he sent an email to many of the churches in town asking “are you aware of this?” An email chain was started and Mr. Luna became a key player in the grassroots organization to stop VIP.

Regardless of the perceived legal tangle some of the town officials found themselves in, the citizens believed the Planning and Zoning Commission had a legal right to overturn VIP’s permit. “The town employees are there to enforce town regulations” said Tony Luna, “not interpret them. That’s the job of the Planning and Zoning Commission.”

Southington residents tried to convince the Planning and Zoning Board to revoke VIP’s permit. However, on their October 20th meeting, the board decided on a four to three decision to let the permit stand and to review VIP when they apply for their certificate of occupancy. This move was counseled by the town attorney as well as an attorney specializing in town zoning laws. Revoking the permit outright would send the town into a part of nebulous law the lawyers argued.

When asked if VIP lied in the permit application process, a move that would give the board strong legal grounds to revoke the permit, Paul Choplinsky, a planning and zoning commission member who argued for the wait and see method in the meeting, said “I was not involved in the permit process. I go only with what the attorneys say.”

The lawyers did not discuss several points which could have possibly persuaded the board to vote otherwise. While concerns were raised that this legal fight would cost the town money when it has a tight budget to begin with, it was never mentioned that the town has insurance which covers the cost of legal issues such as this. The Board should have explored in greater detail whether or not VIPs mislead the town in the application process, to figure out if they really did have grounds to revoke the permit.

Waiting until VIP applies for their certificate of occupancy is giving in an inch which makes the residents fear VIP will take the mile. Waiting until VIP applies for the certificate of occupancy sounds like the safe and legally sound move, but either way, Southington will most likely end up in court. Waiting will only raise the stakes as VIP is spending time and money setting up in town. They will seek to be paid damages if they win.

Currently, VIP is decorating and stocking its store; awaiting and no doubt preparing for a showdown with Southington when it comes time to get the certificate of occupancy.

Adult Toys and the Ilk

There are already several VIP stores in Connecticut: located in Manchester, Orange and Hartford. Several of the Berlin residents have visited these stores to investigate what might be going into their local store. The results don’t look good.

The residents were greeted with an inundation of sexual material. VIP’s advertising lives up their claims of the largest adult store in the Northeast, selling lingerie, lotions, adult toys, DVDs and other sensual material. Also sold were bongs and edged weapons. Laura Michaud visited the Manchester store and the DVDs “Don’t tell Mommy” and “The Girl Next Door” gave her concern. Her daughter is the girl next door to VIP.

VIP’s website describes the stores in Berlin and Southington as different than their other stores. “Coming soon 2 new concept stores the first of their kind coming soon to Berlin and Southington Ct.
“The new concept stores are designed in mind who prefer the less sex(y) version of V.I.P. but would like a little more than just simple lingerie.” (Authors note: this quote has been taken from the website verbatim. The grammatical errors are not the author's)

But according to Tony Luna, resident of Southington who has researched the other VIP stores, VIP has used the same inventory list to apply to Manchester as they did to Southington. Thus we have no guarantee that the Southington and Berlin stores will be different. We only have the word of a business that was less than upfront while applying for their permit.

Residents of both towns have had to face opposition from fellow residents. Laura Michaud records her saga with VIP on her blog, novip.wordpress.com. She disabled the comments from other users because of the many flames she has received calling her such things as a “prude.” Michaud, a self described liberal, is not opposed to these kinds of businesses existing, they just need to be regulated to give residential areas a wide buffer. She has noticed that many college age people have been supportive of VIP. One reason could be that pornography is deeply engrained in our society. “They don’t see it [VIP] as a problem” she says “I counter that and say ‘well, it would be a problem if it was in your backyard.’”

VIP has many problems associated with it. The threat of secondary side affects sexually orientated businesses bring to an area is one major concern. Residents have cited studies which state sexually orientated businesses increase the crime rate in their immediate area and encourage illegal activities such as gambling and prostitution. The residents and the town officials do not want this kind of activity to occur in their retail areas and close to residential homes.

Although Christians will most likely fight a sexually orientated business because of moral reasons, the only arguments which grassroots members are using are secular ones. These are the arguments that the most people are persuaded by. Southington residents have used the reason that their town is a family friendly town—until VIP moves in. “Right after World War II, Life Magazine had an article calling Southington America’s town, but what we are doing is turning it into times square.” says Tony Luna.

Until there is a statewide remedy, individual towns can limit the number of sexually orientated businesses in their town if they have strong zoning regulations and active, passionate citizens. “Don’t tell me we can’t fight them” Tony Luna said “everything is stacked in our favor except the courage to fight it”