Oxnard Approves Permit for Club With Topless Dancers

Persistence has paid off for an Upland businessman seeking to open a club that features topless dancing in an industrial area of northeast Oxnard.

On his fifth try, John Gray won permission this week from city officials to establish the club at 630 Maulhardt Ave. His first four applications were denied because of inadequate parking, said Assistant City Atty. Paula Kimbrell.

Gray solved that problem this time by working out a deal to share parking spaces with neighboring businesses, Kimbrell said.

But the city’s approval of the adult business permit has triggered protests by some area business owners, including the owner of an Oxnard-based television station that has threatened to move out of the city if the dance club moves in.

“From time to time, communities have to dig in and stand up on certain moral issues,” said John Huddy, owner of KADY-TV. “It became very obvious to me from the beginning that this wasn’t going to happen here.”

Huddy said he is worried that the club will attract a rough crowd that could threaten the safety of his employees. He said he has already held preliminary discussions with two Ventura County cities--one in the east county and one in the west--about possibly relocating the television station.

“Our feeling is if the city of Oxnard is going to permit this to happen and treat us and the others on our street like this . . . this is not the kind of place I want to run a business,” Huddy said.

City officials say the proposed adult businesses is protected by the First Amendment and that rejection of the adult business permit would not survive a legal challenge.

The permit is not subject to City Council review.

“The city adopted an adult business ordinance that allows adult business to operate in certain areas of the city,” Kimbrell said. “The site was in this area that the city allowed adult businesses to use.”