STANTON : New Law Regulates Adult Businesses

After repeated court challenges, the City Council has revised the ordinance that governs strip clubs, pornography book stores, peep shows and other adult businesses.

But the revision has not satisfied Stuart Cadwell, who is continuing a lawsuit against the city because it has halted his plan to convert his comedy club on Beach Boulevard, called the Fun House, into a nude dance hall.

The city had adopted an emergency ordinance while drafting a permanent measure to deal with problems it has had with regulating adult entertainment.

In 1989, the city lost a suit to Earmark Books, an adult bookstore, which charged that the city was effectively prohibiting adult businesses with a too-strict ordinance.

In addition, the city last year settled a lawsuit by TJ Theater, a nude dancing establishment on Beach Boulevard that the city had tried to shut down, said City Atty. Thomas W. Allen, because the city would probably have lost the suit.

The original ordinance forbade businesses to operate within 1,000 feet of each other or within 500 feet of a residential zone, according to attorney Deborah Fox, who revised the ordinance for the city.

The new ordinance, approved unanimously last week, permits adult businesses 300 feet from a residential zone, though the individual businesses must be at least 300 feet apart. According to a city study, there are 268 commercial sites that meet these requirements.

“This ordinance is actually more liberal” in terms of the number of potential sites, Allen said.

But Cadwell protested the new ordinance at the council meeting, saying that additional traffic and parking requirements prevent him from being able to open at any of the 268 sites. “They’re banning constitutionally protected activity in their city,” he said.

Cadwell and his partners opened the Fun House in February as a comedy club but quickly converted it to feature nude dancing, because there was not enough business to support the comedy concept, he said. The nude club was shut down by the city.

Cadwell acknowledged that the Fun House is less than 300 feet from a residential zone and therefore is not in compliance with the new ordinance either.

Council members would not comment on the new ordinance, since the city is still technically in litigation with the Fun House. But attorney Fox has said there are many other sites where Cadwell and his partners could open a business.

Cadwell has sued the city in Los Angeles federal court, challenging the constitutionality of the adult entertainment ordinance. He also asked the judge for a preliminary injunction against the city, which would have allowed the club to operate during the lawsuit.

But the judge denied the injunction, and the club has remained closed.

Cadwell said he will continue his lawsuit, because he wants to use the Fun House site, which he and his partners are leasing. “We would happily work out a deal tomorrow with the city, if they would allow us to operate,” Cadwell said.

The club might offer topless dancers and serve alcohol, Cadwell said. Or it could feature fully nude dancers, which would require abandonment of the liquor license, he said.

The council also established an ordinance to cover massage parlors, pool halls, dance halls, bowling alleys and escort services. The ordinance regulates the operation and establishment of such businesses.