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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND September Term, 1996 _______________________________ No. 460 ANNAPOLIS ROAD, LTD., ET AL. v. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND ________________________________ No. 461 JACK GRESSER, et ux. v. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND _______________________________ No. 462 ANNAPOLIS ROAD, LTD. v. ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MARYLAND, et al. _______________________________ Murphy, C.J., Thieme, Wilner, Alan M. (specially assigned), JJ. _______________________________ Opinion by Wilner, J. _______________________________

Filed: December 26, 1996

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We have before us three appeals testing the validity of (1) an Anne Arundel County ordinance seeking to regulate the location and operation of adult bookstores, film arcades, and motion picture theaters, and (2) an injunction issued by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County enforcing that ordinance. I. BACKGROUND For several years, appellant Annapolis Road, Ltd. (ARL)

operated an adult bookstore on property owned by appellants Jack and Brindel Gresser at 1656 Annapolis Road in Anne Arundel County. It sold books, magazines, and videos containing explicit sexual material. It also operated at that location what are sometimes private booths containing coin-

referred to as "peep shows" --

operated video machines that display similar kinds of material. The battle between ARL and the county over the operation of ARL's business extends back at least to 1984. In May of that year, a

county detective seized a number of books and magazines from the store that were found to be obscene. ARL was later convicted in

criminal court of unlawfully displaying those items. At some point, the county enacted an ordinance requiring "peep shows" of the type operated by ARL to have a Class Y license. That

ordinance is not now before us, but it appears that some question arose as to whether it was sufficiently specific to pass

Constitutional muster.

On July 15, 1991, the County Council

enacted a second ordinance (Bill No. 68-91) imposing a moratorium on the issuance of Class Y licenses until better standards could be developed. The moratorium took effect August 7, 1991. On July 29,

county officials inspected the bookstore and found a number of peep show machines that were not covered by Class Y licenses. ARL

closed the business and submitted applications for the required licenses. In light of the moratorium, however, the county took no That led to a lawsuit by ARL

immediate action on the applications.

in U.S. District Court challenging the moratorium. On November 21, 1991, the County Council enacted Bill No. 9891, purporting to deal in a more specific and comprehensive way with the operation of adult bookstores and adult theaters. The

enactment of that ordinance, which repealed the existing law governing Class Y licenses and set forth revised procedures for the issuance of those licenses, thus made ARL's challenge to the moratorium and the earlier ordinance moot. The Federal court

dismissed the pending action, along with claims that the moratorium itself constituted a violation of ARL's rights under 42 U.S.C.

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Maryland Law