GARDEN GROVE : Council’s Juice Bar Opponents Backed

On the eve of a Superior Court hearing to determine the fate of a businessman’s plans for a juice bar that would feature exotic dancers, more than three dozen residents gathered at the steps of City Hall on Monday to support council members who voted against the proposal.

A Superior Court judge has ordered the city to reconsider its denial of the proposal because zoning allows “adult activity” businesses in the area. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for today.

In January, the City Council turned down a proposal by Waldon R. Welty to raze his bookstore in the 8100 block of Garden Grove Boulevard and build a two-story juice bar that would feature nude entertainers.

When Welty reapplied for a permit in June, the council rejected his proposal on the grounds that there was not enough parking at the site for the proposed 3,747-square-foot building.

Welty in turn sued the city, sending the matter to court.

On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators lined Garden Grove Boulevard to protest plans for the juice bar.

They complained that an area on Garden Grove Boulevard already dotted with adult businesses creates an unsavory environment for neighboring businesses and homeowners.

The addition of a nude juice bar would only make matters worse, they said.

But Welty’s attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, said the city is setting up illegal roadblocks in an attempt to prohibit all adult business in Garden Grove.

Diamond said the city “has squeezed” his client by restricting the number of hours that an arcade at his adult book store can operate while also denying the permit for the juice bar.

He blamed “right-wing fundamentalists” who have an ability to organize and demonstrate, and claimed that the juice bar would be approved by residents if put to a vote.

City Councilman Mark Leyes said that a recent UC Irvine study examining the relationship between crime and adult businesses on Garden Grove Boulevard proves that adult businesses “correlate very highly with criminal activity.”

Assembly candidate Curt Pringle, who is also a local businessman, said the UCI study found that a cluster of adult book stores accounts for 10.5% of all major crimes and 25.5% of less serious crimes on Garden Grove Boulevard.