Texas Town Basically Bans (New) Sex Offenders

The small town of Nederland, Texas, wedged between Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas in the heavily industrialized refinery and chemical plant complex of the “Golden Triangle” about 90 miles east of Houston and hugging the Louisiana border, has effectively banned sex offenders (or at least new ones) from living there.  Houston Chronicle article.  

Nederland had a fairly standard ordinance which kept convicted sex offenders from living within 1000 feet from schools, daycare centers or parks.  It had six exceptions, including a circumstance in which a school, daycare facility or park was constructed within 1000 feet of where a sex offender was already living – keeping the city from forcing someone to move out if a new facility was put in.

The new ordinance adds in a prohibition on sex offenders from living with 1000 feet (about a football field or long city block) from libraries, churches and various other facilities that serve four or more children including studies with instruction in arts or sports.  The community has lots of dance studios and twirling academies.  In addition, registered sex offenders will have to put up a city-sponsored sign that will let kids know that the residence is not participating in Halloween.  The one exception is that those previously living in compliance with the old statute will not have to comply with the new one.  This effectively again, keeps folks who are in a house they own from having to move.  It seems to do nothing for someone renting if their landlord decides not to renew their lease.

The Chronicle reports that: While residence restrictions are popular, there's little evidence they work, according to the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, based in Beaverton, Ore. On its website, the association states, "There is no research to support that adult sex offenders' proximity to schools or parks leads to recidivism."
Unlike some other states, Texas has a fairly limited statute on who has to register for sexual offender registries, and includes those who commit crimes against children and forcible sexual assaults, or those who commit indecent exposure more than once.  See DPS Website. 
  
Other states have gone overboard and included all sex offenders, as did the Federal Government in the Walsh Act.  Seefor Background 

Texas made a point to include on its register only those in its borders who committed offenses in other states or federal crimes whose elements meet the Texas standards.  

Nederland, due to its small size and density, is basically stating that newly convicted sex offenders, or those who are put out of their apartments, can’t live in densely populated parts of the city, and can’t work in places that are near schools, playgrounds, or places that children may be.  Sex offenders are being pushed out to the countryside.