Baltimore County officials are not wasting any time when it comes to enforcing a long-awaited law that takes effect tomorrowand is intended to force adult video stores out of neighborhoods.

Councilman Wayne M. Skinner, a Towson Republican, asked zoning officials in a letter this week to inspect two stores, and the zoning administrator said the inspections will be conducted Monday, the first working day after the law takes effect.

Zoning Administrator Arnold Jablon said he would order inspections at other adult video stores, if similar requests for inspections are filed.

"In these kinds of zoning issues, enforcement is driven by specific complaints," Jablon said.

County officials say the law, enacted last March, gave store owners a year to relocate and that enforcement efforts are eagerly awaited by community groups.

"The community associations have been asking, 'When is this [law] going to happen? When is it going to happen?'" said Councilman Stephen G. Sam Moxley, a Democrat whose district in the Catonsville-Halethorpe corridor includes at least three adult video stores.

Community leaders say the proliferation of stores has discouraged families from shopping nearby and makes it difficult to revitalize those areas.

"Things like that set a tone in a residential neighborhood, and it's just not conducive to bringing children and families around," said Leslie Kaminsky, president of the elementary school board at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, a Roman Catholic school in Essex across the street from an adult video store.

The law, passed unanimously, restricts adult video stores to heavy manufacturing districts and requires that they operate at least 1,000 feet from schools, homes, churches or parks and at least 2,500 feet from each other.

Stores that have less than 20 percent of their stock or floor space dedicated to adult materials can remain in commercial districts under the law.

The law also restricts new tattoo and massage parlors to manufacturing areas.

Skinner wrote to Jablon on Tuesday, asking for inspections of the Love Ones on York Road and Movie Sales video store on Joppa Road to make sure they comply with the law.

Jablon said that if inspectors find violations, store owners could be fined up to $500 a day. But he said shop owners could appeal to a zoning hearing officer, the county Board of Appeals, to Baltimore County Circuit Court and possibly federal and state appellate courts.

"It can take some time," Jablon said.

The manager of the Essex store was unavailable yesterday, according to a store spokeswoman. But the owner of five other Baltimore County stores said he intended to fight the law with a long legal battle and drag it out for years if necessary.

"It ain't over till it's over," said David Dritz, whose five Movie Sales stores sell adult and family-oriented videos. Dritz said that courts have struck down similar laws because they violate First Amendment guarantees to free speech.

But county council members say the law was specifically crafted to withstand Constitutional challenges in the courts.

Dritz said his stores are designed to be as inoffensive as possible, for passers-by and customers.

Dritz' store on Joppa Road in Loch Raven offers a mix of family and action adventure videos in the section at the front of the shop visible from the street. A sign near a rear doorway prohibits anyone under 18 from entering a back room, where hundreds of sexually explicit videos are on display in a much larger room.

Dritz said that if he redesigned his stores so that he used only 20 percent of the space for adult videos, he would lose money and have to close.

Pub Date: 3/19/99