Garden Grove Planners Veto Nude Juice Bar Proposal : Entertainment: Officials said the project could jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of residents.

The city’s Planning Commission has rejected an adult bookstore owner’s plans to replace a peep-show arcade with a juice bar that would have featured topless or nude women dancing before patrons as they sipped nonalcoholic beverages.

The Planning Commission unanimously rejected Waldon R. Welty’s plans, saying that the project could jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of residents in the area.

Welty proposed to replace A-Z Books and a vacant house behind it with a 4,226-square-foot, two-story structure, but commissioners said the plans do not meet the city’s requirements for parking or driveway design and could cause traffic and safety problems.

In addition, they echoed the concerns of about 20 opponents of the project, who said they believe the bar could increase crime and other problems in the neighborhood. Kenneth Blain, a spokesman for Garden Grove Residents Against Pornography, said he represented about 1,100 families who oppose the project.

An architect for the project and a professional traffic engineer hired by Welty said that the bar would be able to meet city requirements.

“The staff’s opinion is slanted,” said architect Jesse Raymond, arguing that the building would not overburden traffic or present a safety hazard. “We’ve done the best we could do under the circumstances (on a narrow lot) and the project is a good project.”

Both Raymond and a resident, Tim Morris, who opposed the project, said that the heart of the matter Thursday night was philosophical.

“The issue isn’t traffic engineering and it’s not architecture,” Morris said. “If you look at the bottom of your heart, it’s a moral issue. . . . If the city wanted to allow this building, I guarantee there would be some way to allow that to happen. The issue shouldn’t be where or when to allow such a business, but why or if it should be allowed.”

The city has been battling adult businesses along Garden Grove Boulevard for years. Its legal battle with Welty began in 1980 when he opened A-Z and successfully challenged the city’s requirement that he obtain a conditional use permit. There are three pending lawsuits between the city and Welty.

City officials maintain that A-Z has been the site of cruising, solicitation, loitering, lewd conduct and noise, all of which have disrupted neighbors. Planners cited a city-commissioned UC Irvine report which said that the expansion of adult businesses leads to increased crime, lower property values and other negative effects.

But Welty said he thinks the bar would probably decrease problems.

“If I turn it into a juice-bar show, we will tend to separate ourselves from the population that has caused numerous problems for the city of Garden Grove,” Welty said, adding that such businesses tend to attract more men in suits and ties who are not “troublemakers.”

Welty said he plans to appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council.