The Comfort Zone received a zoning violation notice for selling adult items.
(Photo by Maryland Newsline's Tami Le)
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College Park Store Selling Adult Products at Center of Controversy
Maryland Newsline
Friday, Nov. 26, 2010; map added Nov. 30, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Eric Eldritch said he appreciates a store like the Comfort Zone, which sells adult products.
"I think we need to have a variety of businesses in the area, and this is just another variety," said Eldritch, 49, of College Park.
Some city officials don't agree.
The Comfort Zone on U.S. Route 1 was slapped last month with a notice of a zoning violation and given 30 days to come into compliance. The store's use and occupancy permit, issued in January, allows the owners "to operate a business sort of along the lines of a variety store," said College Park Council member Patrick Wojahn.
It specifically states, he said, that they "should not sell any adult products."
A quick stroll through the main floor of the Comfort Zone revealed one side is lined with stockings and lingerie. The other side is filled with sex toys like dildos, while a rack in the middle of the main floor holds lotions and potions.
About half of the basement is filled with comedy and horror flicks, as well as comics. The other half contains pornographic videos, adult magazines and oversized dildos.
"The kind of items sold in that store, we do not think are sold in a variety store," said city code enforcement manager Jeannie Ripley.
The county zoning code (section 27-902) defines an adult book or video store as one in which merchandise depicting “sadomasochistic abuse, sexual conduct, or sexual excitement” takes up 10 percent or more of its floor space or displays. The Comfort Zone, Ripley said, fits that definition.
The store's owners had the option of correcting the violation by ceasing the sale of adult items, or appealing the violation notice. The owners decided to appeal, Ripley said.
A hearing before the county Board of Appeals is expected in January.
Robert Carl, an owner of the store, declined to comment on the record with Maryland Newsline about the basis for his appeal.
Wojahn said, "It's possible that [the owners are] arguing here over what exactly is considered an adult product."
Eldritch, who had served as a community sex health educator in Washington, D.C., said he has no qualms about having a store like the Comfort Zone in north College Park. He wrote in a city discussion forum Nov. 3 that "people need [a] place to go to purchase normal, healthy 'adult products' or 'marital aids' or videos or lube or toys or any of the great variety of other normal types of sex-enhancing items."
He added, "A good source of quality items encourages healthy sex practices, disease reduction, prevention of the spread of STDs and prevention of desperate, dangerous searches for pleasure."
But some in the community worry that such a store, located about two miles north of the University of Maryland's College Park campus and close to residential neighborhoods, isn't the best influence.
"They are selling adult products ... very close to the neighborhoods where families are living," said Fazlul Kabir, secretary of the North College Park Citizens Association. "We need to protect our neighborhood."