Not our business
By JENNIFER KELLEY
Cherry Hill Sun
10/5/2006

Route 70 adult video store plan prompts outcry

From the outside, the aging white stucco building with cracked green trim doesn’t look especially controversial, but what is planned for the inside has left some Cherry Hill residents shocked, outraged and ready to go to battle against a local business owner.

Over the past few weeks, residents living in the township’s Barclay Farms section have expressed impassioned opposition to a proposed adult video store on Route 70. Through a campaign of e-mails and phone calls to local officials, the Barclay Farms community has united against what they perceive as a threat to their neighborhood.

“(A sexually oriented business) should not be located next to a neighborhood full of residential houses and children’s bus stops,” said Robert Saldutti, president of the Barclay Farms Civic Association, adding that equally troubling was the fact that locals did not learn of the purchase until recently.

The building was purchased more than three years ago by businessman Jim Restaino – who owns the Romantic Video and Boutique shop in Mt. Laurel, among various other ventures, according to records.

His plan was – and still is – to sell adult and non-adult videos, in addition to other adult-oriented sundry, mirroring his successful store on Route 73, said Robert Marks, the Realtor who sold the property, adding that his client is looking to lease the basement of the building for use as a karate or yoga studio.

But since being alerted in 2004 that the building was set to be used for an adult book and video store, the township has balked at granting him a building permit. Restaino subsequently has sued the municipality.

According to documents filed in Camden County Superior Court, provided by the township, he and his attorney, Dennis Oury, offered to limit the store’s “adult” sales and rentals to just 30 percent of the facility, utilizing the other 70 percent of the retail area for non-adult video sales and rentals.

They claim the township’s response to their negotiation was to pass a new ordinance in 2004 banning any sexually oriented businesses from setting up shop within 1,000 feet of schools, child-care centers, parks, playgrounds and places of public worship. The ordinance was further amended in 2005 to ban such stores anywhere within 500 feet of a school bus stop.

The lawsuit argues that the township’s new laws, in effect, suppress protected speech by eliminating, through over-regulation, all possible locations such a store can operate.

When contacted by The Sun, Oury, would only say that he and his client were in the process of negotiating a settlement with the township, and thus, were unable to comment at this time.

“Certainly, he has his First Amendment rights,” Saldutti said, “but we have rights, too.”

At a Council meeting held last week, Barclay residents implored Council to fight for their cause.

“I know that this business is located right on Route 70,” said Barclay resident Teresa Mohrfield, “but there are about 1,700 residential homes located behind this property…It seems that a township as great as Cherry Hill would protect us from something like this.”

Mayor Bernie Platt and Council assured residents at the meeting they were trying, and many vowed to attend a Barclay Farms Civic Association meeting scheduled for last Thursday evening that would further address the issue of Restaino’s designs for his store and his lawsuit against the township.

“Everyone here shares your concerns, and the people here,” Councilman Steve Polansky said to his fellow Council members, “will do everything in their power to prevent (the shop’s) opening or make sure, if it does open, it does not have (a negative effect on the community.)”

Councilman Dennis Garbowski concurred, assuring residents at the meeting, “You can count on us to continue to fight this – we’ll stand out there with you and protest, if we have to.”

Councilman John Amato noted that “this situation is not over yet – we’ve been fighting the opening (of this store) for two years. Rest assured,” he told residents, “we are fighting for you…We don’t want this in your neighborhood or any neighborhood in Cherry Hill.”

But Restaino’s proposed Route 70 Romantic Video and Boutique is not opening in the Barclay Farms neighborhood, it’s looking to open on Route 70, Marks said.

“I sold him a facility on a commercial road – not in a planned suburban development. It’s a free-standing building on Route 70, a major artery,” he said.

“I could think of a lot of worse locations.”

“Our interests in the case are directly aligned with the residents and families of the township, and we want to keep any type of deviant and unsavory business out of Cherry Hill,” Platt noted in a press release.