Section 503.53. Initiative petition on resolution regulating or restricting adult-oriented businesses

(A) Resolutions of the type described in division (A) of section 503.52 of the Revised Code may be proposed by initiative petition by the electors of a township and adopted by election by these electors, under the same circumstances, in the same manner, and subject to the same penalties as provided in sections 731.28 to 731.40 and 731.99 of the Revised Code for ordinances and other measures of municipal corporations, insofar as those sections are applicable to townships, except as follows:

(1) The board of township trustees shall perform the duties imposed on the legislative authority of the municipal corporation under those sections.

(2) Initiative petitions shall be filed with the township fiscal officer, who shall perform the duties imposed under those sections upon the city auditor or village clerk.

(3) Initiative petitions shall contain the signatures of electors of the township equal in number to at least ten per cent of the total vote cast in the township for the office of governor at the most recent general election for that office.

(4) Each signer of an initiative petition shall be an elector of the township in which the election on the proposed resolution is to be held.

(B) A resolution proposed under division (A) of this section may provide for the following:

(1) Modification of the administrative procedures, including administrative zoning procedures, of the township as those procedures apply to adult entertainment establishments to ensure that constitutional requirements are met;

(2) Criminal and civil sanctions for adult entertainment establishments that violate regulations established by the resolution.

Effective Date: 08-17-2006