IRVINE : Nudity Ban’s Effects on Arts Worry Panel

The Planning Commission, struggling to draft a law that would regulate sexually oriented businesses, said Thursday that a proposal to ban all public nudity is ill-advised because of its impact on the arts.

The proposed ordinance would require future sex-oriented business to operate only in two industrial centers near the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Along with the restriction on the location of adult businesses, city planners had recommended that the ordinance prohibit nudity in places open to the public.

After listening to public testimony Thursday night, commissioners said they would like to adjust the ban to allow nudity in certain artistic settings.

Atson Reeder, a sculptor, warned the commission that the Nazis used terms such as “public indecency” to ban certain artists in Germany in the 1940s. Reeder said he opposed the prohibition against nudity because it would prevent him from teaching sculpting classes in Irvine using nude models.

“I believe in total freedom of the arts,” Reeder said.

Commission members also said they were worried that a nudity ban could have a chilling effect on the arts. The commission voted unanimously to delay further consideration of the ordinance until the city Cultural Affairs Commission can hold a hearing to consider unintended effects the ban might have on artists.

Commissioner Lowell S. Johnson said he disliked the proposed nudity ban because it would become illegal for the city to hold artistic performances such as Laguna Beach’s annual Pageant of the Masters. The pageant, featuring live models portraying famous paintings, includes some nudity.

Nudity currently is allowed in Irvine only at theaters.