AUGUSTA, Georgia — The lawyer defending an adult bookstore owner in Superior Court said Tuesday there is no suitable property in Farmingdale where that business could relocate.

Farmingdale brought suit against Monmouth residents Richard Brann, who owns the building on Maine Avenue, and his girlfriend, Shannon Fisher, the proprietor of 1st Choice Adult Book & Video.

The town said 1st Choice must move to another location because it is within 1,000 feet of a residence and shares a driveway, in violation of an ordinance restricting sexually oriented shops including strip clubs and stores that offer pornography, videos and viewing booths.

At Kennebec County Superior Court, Thomas Federle of Augusta, the lawyer representing Farmingdale, said the town has areas in which sexually oriented businesses can locate and be in compliance.

“Seven percent of the property in Farmingdale is available (to sexually oriented businesses),” Federle said. “They could relocate tomorrow and be in compliance.”

However, H.C. Spurling, who represents Fisher, said undeveloped land that meets the criteria of the ordinance is undesirable because the parcels are not on public roads.

Spurling also took issue with an amortization schedule in the ordinance that gave 1st Amendment Adult Book & Video — which is down the street from 1st Choice next to the Town Office — a five-year grace period because it had been at that location for over a decade.

The ordinance gave 1st Choice only a six-month grace period because the business was three months old when the new regulations were adopted by the town two years ago.

“That’s the equal-protection argument based on the Equal Protection Law of the U.S. Constitution, which says that similar-situated people cannot be treated differently,” Spurling said. “And what we’re saying is that there are two businesses in town that are exactly identical, even on the same street, yet the town, for whatever reason, decided to treat them differently. One has to close immediately and the other has five years. Income over a five-year period can be a substantial amount of money for a business.”

Federle said the longer period of time given to 1st Amendment was based on the owner’s investment in the business and how great the burden would be to relocate.

Will Stuart owns and operates 1st Amendment.

“Fisher does not own the real estate and the 1st Amendment owner does,” Federle said. “In order for her to relocate, she would have to terminate the lease with Brann, whereas (Stuart) would have to satisfy a mortgage and find a new tenant for the property or sell it.”

Federle said both businesses eventually will have to relocate. He said 1st Choice objects because it has to move before 1st Amendment.

“The defendant hasn’t established that she is in a similar situation as the gentleman down the street,” Federle said. “She has to establish that she is treated differently. The Farmingdale ordinance applies to all sexually oriented businesses in town.”

In the end, Spurling asked the court to find the ordinance unconstitutional because it violates Fisher’s freedom of speech. He said the First Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights says a municipality can- not ban an outlet for speech based on the content of that speech.

“The town of Farmingdale ordinance is so limiting as to where a business can exist that it is in fact an effective ban on that type of speech, and that’s prohibited by the First Amendment,” Spurling said.

Justice S. Kirk Studstrup, who was assigned the case, said Tuesday that he would take the matter under advisement.

Federle said a judge typically will issue a decision within a month or two of the hearing.