Toronto Store Challenges Adult Zoning Bylaw

Valerie Hauch reports for [I]The Star[/I], 26 Apr 2012:

[url]http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1168881--sex-toys-on-the-queensway-naughty-or-a-crime?bn=1[/url]

[INDENT][B]Sex toys on the Queensway: Naughty or a crime?[/B]

If a store sells condoms, is it just marketing family planning or is it selling a product â??designed to appeal to erotic or sexual appetites . . . ?â?

If itâ??s the latter, and itâ??s in an area of Toronto, like along the Queensway about three kilometres east of Kipling, there could be trouble. Capital T, as in ticket trouble.

A city zoning bylaw (514-2003) prohibits the opening of an adult establishment on this stretch of the Queensway. And the city refers to the Municipal Act which defines such a business thus: â??Any premises or part of them is an adult entertainment establishment if goods, entertainment or services that are designed to appeal to erotic or sexual appetites or inclinations are provided . . . â??â??

Steve Bannister has some of that Capital T trouble now with his aptly named Arenâ??t We Naughty business at 1100 The Queensway. It sells lingerie, sexual aids, toys and erotic paraphernalia, as well as such things as condoms and lubricants, which can be found at most pharmacies. He has been served with a notice of violation of the bylaw, telling him to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on June 8 and face a charge of operating an adult entertainment establishment where it is prohibited.

But Bannister believes the bylaw is â??old and confusing . . . everyone from department stores to drugstores sell some of the same products we do.â??â??

His lawyer, Melissa Vanberkum, plans to ask the Ontario Court to adjourn the matter of the city ticket because she will be challenging the bylaw in Superior Court and believes it could be voided for vagueness.

â??Void, because we donâ??t understand what it means. A bylaw has to be understood by a reasonable person,â??â?? said Vanberkum.

Bannister had earlier lost an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, after he was turned down by the city when he asked for a minor variance to allow his business to open. He still went ahead and deliberately opened the business, on a site he owns next to a liquor store on one side and travel agency on the other, because he wanted to challenge the law.

But Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore) defended the bylaw, explaining the city wants to transform this section of the Queensway and â??clean it up.â??â?? The avenue has had more than its share of adult video stores and massage parlours,he said, and now that the area is being redeveloped with condo projects, the idea is to â??try and keep those adult businesses off the Queensway.â??â??

With regard to the argument that other stores also sell some similar products, Milczyn said â??Shoppers (Drug Mart) sells contraceptives and family planning. They donâ??t sell sex videos.â??â?? Their products are about â??contraceptives and disease prevention,â??â?? he said.

Bannisterâ??s Queensway store also does not sell sex videos, and he said his goods are high-end and most of his clients are women and couples.

â??I want to prove to the city I have a right to be there. I sell nice things. We are part of the cleanup,â??â?? insists Bannister, who has 12 other stores in Ontario. He notes that when he opened one of his stores in Pickering the deputy mayor came to the ribbon-cutting.

Meanwhile, his next-door neighbour, Marissa Cavlovic, who owns Marissa Travel at 1114 The Queensway, is delighted Arenâ??t We Naughty has opened.

â??I am older lady. I am here 32 years, I am not against it whatsoever. Itâ??s very tasteful, very beautiful, very clean. There is a liquor store beside it; Iâ??m not against alcohol but we have more trouble with people who buy liquor.â??â??[/INDENT]