The Village Board debated this week whether allowing outdoor movie rental kiosks to operate in commercial districts would give children access to “adult” movies.
“I don’t think we can have video kiosks at all because of the (chance of) illicit materials being made available to minors,” said Trustee Vince Mancini.
Several kiosk operators have asked permission to do business in North Aurora, said Community Development Director Scott Buening. Though Woodman’s Market operates its own kiosk inside its store, the village does not have any specific rules about outdoor kiosks located on land owned by other businesses, he said.
Village attorney Kevin Drendel said that banning movie rental kiosks because they might dispense R- or X-rated films to minors would violate kiosk owners’ First Amendment rights.
He added that trustees could legally require kiosk owners who plan to rent adult films to supervise the kiosks and prevent minors from renting inappropriate films under the village’s adult products display ordinance. That ordinance would apply to movie rentals, even though it’s typically used to hide the covers of adult magazines from children’s view.
Trustees also discussed the physical effect of putting rental kiosks outside stores.
“I’d be much more comfortable with them being indoors and not cluttering the sidewalks,” said Trustee Michael Herlihy.
They agreed that allowing kiosks in store parking lots could disrupt traffic flow and create a potential hazard.
Herlihy argued that drawing up regulations to allow outdoor movie rental kiosks would be more trouble than it’s worth, especially because, he said, Internet movie rentals will make the kiosks obsolete within a few years.
“Is it beneficial to the village to have 24-hour video rental kiosks when people can download movies whenever they want?” he asked.
Trustees tabled the proposal until the board’s Nov. 15 meeting.
