City Tightens Law on Adult Businesses : Entertainment: Modeling studios, tanning salons with fashion shows will be affected in Newport Beach.

Adult modeling studios, including tanning salons offering lingerie fashion shows, now join the growing list of enterprises governed by new municipal regulations as the city continues its yearlong crackdown on adult entertainment businesses and prostitution.

The City Council on Monday gave preliminary approval to the new regulations, which set operating rules for the shops and require both shop operators and employees to obtain permits.

Permits will be required for any business where nude or semi-clad modeling is part of the service for such things as fashion shows, in lingerie shops or for artistic reasons.

The new regulations also establish procedures for operations inside the shops. For example, models must remain at least four feet away from patrons, modeling cannot occur in any area that is capable of being locked to prevent inspection by the authorities, and customers must remain fully clothed.

Officials hope the permits will give the city more control over the businesses, as permits may be revoked or suspended if violations are found.

No new zoning regulations were included in the council action. Adult businesses are prohibited under current zoning rules from locating near schools, churches, community centers, most residential areas and other adult businesses, city officials said.

The changes come nearly seven months after a businesswoman approached the city with plans to operate a tanning salon that would also offer patrons a chance to buy lingerie during live fashion shows.

That proposal alarmed city officials, who months earlier had enacted a ban on new massage shops because police found that some were being used as fronts for prostitution. Officials feared prostitution may be moving into other businesses, such as tanning salons, and decided to ban those businesses as well until new rules could be devised.

At the time, there were about 50 massage shops in Newport Beach, more than any other city in the county. Police estimated that about half were being used for prostitution. Comparatively, there were just two tanning salons, and neither has been suspected as being a front for prostitution.

In coming months, the city hopes to overhaul its adult entertainment ordinance to include ways to better regulate new adult businesses that continue to crop up in the city and are not covered by existing rules. For example, a businessman recently inquired about opening a topless barbershop.

If the council gives final approval to the new regulations in two weeks, the new ordinance will take effect in 30 days, at which time the ban on new tanning salons offering lingerie modeling will be lifted.