San Antonio wants to know how far it can go to make sexual predators go away

SAN ANTONIO - The Pasco County city known for its annual Rattlesnake Festival would like sexual predators to slither out of town.

San Antonio City Commissioners have asked their attorney to tell them how restrictive they can be in zoning where sexual predators live. Current state law prohibits predators from living within 1000 feet of schools, churches and other places children congregate.

San Antonio Mayor Roy Pierce wants more. "I would like the most restrictive we can get without opening up taxpayers to a lawsuit that would cost a lot of money," he said.

One suggestion is to increase the zoning prohibition to 2500 feet. That would exclude predators from living anywhere but two streets on the outskirts of town. The city attorney may advise that's too restrictive and could open San Antonio up to a lawsuit.

Parent Mike Fields said he thinks it's worth paying some legal fees to protect his three children. "If some group wants to sue, then that's the way it goes," said Fields. "I don't think we fall short of what we want to do because we're afraid of a lawsuit."

The city is expected to discuss the zoning changes on Tuesday night.