GARDEN GROVE : Adult Bookstore Focus of Hearing

The City Council voted Tuesday to bring in a hearing officer to consider whether to revoke a permit for an adult bookstore.

In actuality, hearing officer Albert B. Chettle had already been chosen by city officials and conducted the hearing on the permit of A-Z Adult Books on Jan. 22.

City Atty. Stuart B. Scudder said that although it is general procedure for the council to approve the hearing first, it is only a technical detail.

Chettle’s decision is expected in two weeks, Scudder said. It will serve as a recommendation to the City Council.

The hearing was another effort by the city to crack down on A-Z, which city officials have long contended is a nuisance. In 1989, Chettle conducted another hearing on the peep show arcade, resulting in a reduction of hours.

Owner Waldon R. Welty appealed that case, and it is now pending in Superior Court along with two other lawsuits involving the city and the bookstore. They are scheduled to be heard March 16.

If Chettle recommends that the city revoke A-Z’s permit and the council does so, Welty’s attorney has said he will appeal that decision in court as well.

And yet another lawsuit is also expected soon as a result of the council’s rejection of Welty’s proposal to tear down the bookstore and replace it with a nude bar that serves juice and other nonalcoholic drinks.

For years, city officials have said that A-Z is the site of cruising, solicitation, loitering, lewd conduct and noise. In recent discussions, council members have referred to a city-commissioned study performed by two UCI professors that linked higher crime rates and lower property values to adult businesses.

Welty and his attorney, Roger Diamond, argue that the nude juice bar--at which patrons would sip nonalcoholic beverages while watching naked women dance--would relieve existing problems and render much of the litigation moot.