Law Limiting Adult Shops OK, Judge Rules

A judge has ruled an East Hanover law requiring a 50-foot buffer around sexually oriented businesses is constitutional, the Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

GED LLC, a company that runs Essex Adult Emporium on Route 46 in Fairfield, leased property at 64 Route 10 in East Hanover with plans to open a store there. The company sued the township after East Hanover would not give it a permit to open.

While a judge previously found an East Hanover law requiring a 1,000-foot buffer between sexually oriented stores and establishments such as schools and churches was invalid because it effectively banned adult businesses, violating free speech protections, an engineer identified 14 sites that could satisfy the requirement for a 50-foot buffer, according to the Star-Ledger report.