FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — An Adam and Eve store in the Richmond area is suing Fort Bend County after being forced to register as a sexually-oriented business.
The store, which is located on Richmond Parkway near the Southwest Freeway, says in a lawsuit that the order to be classified as such came after the county initially gave them the go-ahead to operate as a general-retail store.
“The County approved the buildout, issued the applicable permits, and issued a certificate of occupancy authorizing occupancy and operation of the store for retail use,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit says a May letter from Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan ultimately stated otherwise.
“Fagan claimed that the store’s proposed operations ‘may involve’ the sale of ‘instruments, devices, or paraphernalia that are designed for use in connection with specified sexual activities,'” the lawsuit writes.
That refers to Fort Bend County’s regulations for sexually-oriented businesses, which states a shop is considered an adult bookstore if its “primary business purpose” is to sell such items.
The lawsuit goes on to say this Adam and Eve store is part of a re-designed concept that specializes in the sale of “lingerie, apparel, and wellness merchandise.”
“The regulated devices or paraphernalia addressed by the regulations, to the extent any are offered for sale, constitute a minority of the store’s floor space, inventory, and anticipated revenue,” states the lawsuit.
Fort Bend County’s regulations state that sexually-oriented businesses must be greater than 1,500 feet away from any dwelling.
The lawsuit states the registering as such a business would “effectively require” the store to close, as there are homes and apartments located within 1500 feet of the its location.
ABC13 has reached out to the Fort Bend County Attorney’s Office on Monday to get more details on the county’s role in this lawsuit and regulatory process.
County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson referred us to the chief of her office’s regulatory division, who we’ve reached out to multiple times in the days since.
Eyewitness News reached out to that division multiple times, but have yet to receive a response.
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