Vassalboro Allows Sexually-Oriented Businesses

Instead of banning nudity in the wake of a topless coffee shop opening within its town limits. Vassalboro Maine will instead seek to regulate "sexually-oriented businesses" by limiting location and manner of operations.

The new ordinance proposal says its aim is not to prohibit free speech or target sexually oriented businesses, but rather to address the "negative secondary effects" of such businesses. Those effects are described as "perceived decreases in value in both residential and commercial properties" and the way in which the businesses "can adversely affect the character and quality of life of a town and can be incompatible with surrounding uses."

The news article does not indicate if town officials have any proof of these alleged "secondary effects". Is it legal to pass ordinances based upon mere perceptions?