FAIRFIELD — After neighbors complained to law enforcement and city leaders about a video store that recently began selling hundreds of pornographic videos and DVDs, store operators said they temporarily will stop selling the items and pledged to permanently remove them if they upset the community.

        Meanwhile, authorities are looking into whether West Coast Video on Pleasant Avenue, just north of Nilles Road, has been violating laws that restrict sexually oriented businesses.

        The store does not have a permit to operate a sexually oriented business in Fairfield and has not applied for one, according to city officials. Fairfield leaders were caught off guard Monday when resident Larry Whatley announced to City Council that the store now sells videotapes and DVDs he considers to be “hard-core pornography,” which violates the law. He also said he has contacted the anti-pornography group Citizens for Community Values for help.

        “I feel pretty confident that what is taking place down there is against everything Fairfield stands for,” Mr. Whatley told council. “This is flat-out sick. It's obscene. It's very graphic. I don't want it in my community.”

        “I am shocked,” Mayor Erick Cook responded. “This is not something we wish to have in our community. I have rented many a video at West Coast Video and never noticed (the explicit materials) before.”

        After hearing about the controversy, a top store official said Tuesday he ordered the adult section closed until the matter is worked out.

        However, the area was open Tuesday afternoon when an Enquirer reporter visited. Located in the rear of the store, the room offers 500 to 600 videos and DVDs for sale and rent, several advertised as “hard core.”

        Alan Ferraro, director of operations for Phoenix Restructuring Group in Brick, N.J., which owns the store, said he would again contact the district store manager to reissue the order. “I gave the order to do that and it should have been done,” he said.

        Mr. Ferraro said the company “checked with the zoning laws and there was nothing in those to believe there was anything wrong with it. We still don't believe there is anything wrong with it, but I am not concerned with that. I am concerned with how the community feels.”

        The video store is part of a national chain that has stores in five other states.

        According to Fairfield zoning codes, sexually oriented businesses must receive a permit and cannot operate within 1,000 feet of residentially zoned property, churches, schools, parks or public playgrounds. They also cannot be within 1,000 feet of other sexually oriented businesses.

        Fairfield's code leaves the definition of what constitutes a sexually oriented business up to interpretation, said Tim Bachman, Fairfield planning director. The code says a business is considered a sexual-oriented one if a “substantial amount of materials” is deemed sexual, he said. “I don't know if it's even a sexually oriented business under our code,” Mr. Bachman said.

        Fairfield Police Chief Michael Dickey said officers have contacted the Butler County Prosecutor's Office and are discussing how to launch an investigation into the matter and determine if the store's materials violate the law.

        Steve Tolbert, chief assistant prosecutor with the Butler County Prosecutor's Office who heads the obscenity task force, said he is looking into the matter but a formal investigation has not been launched.

        Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper, who lives near the store and is a customer, said he applauded its operators for closing the room and noted an investigation can't be conducted if the room does not reopen. If it does reopen, he said his office would investigate.

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