La Habra Residents Applaud Panel Rejection of Bikini Bar

More than 200 elated residents gave the Planning Commission a standing ovation this week when it unanimously voted not to allow a bikini bar in the city.

Steve Smith proposed operating a nonsmoking bar featuring bikini-clad dancers and servers for customers 18 and older.

He said he filed an appeal Tuesday, hoping the City Council will overturn the Planning Commission’s decision and allow him to open La Habra Polo Grounds in a local shopping center. The center, which houses a Pic ‘N Save store, hair and nail salons and restaurants, is on the northeast corner of La Habra and Harbor boulevards.

Resident Pamela Shurilla told the Planning Commission: “This is a community’s outcry against a type of pornography. This is about virtues and about morals.”

Ruth Davis, 70, said she cheered when the commission rejected the proposal.

“It’s for the good of the community,” she said. “Our city is already crumbling. We don’t need a bar like this to tear it down.”

Planning Commissioner Gene LaBlond said the proposed bikini bar “did not belong in that particular area, which is more of a community- and family-oriented center not suited for a ‘gentlemen’s club.’ ”

City officials said hundreds of homes, two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school are within a mile of the proposed bar. Many residents said they did not want their children to walk by Smith’s bar on their way to or from home.

Commissioner Michael Collins said Smith refused to comply with a number of conditions, which included upgrading lighting in the parking lot, keeping the dance stage 11 feet from the bar and planting large trees along property lines.

Smith would not respond to residents’ or the Planning Commission’s concerns, citing his attorney’s advice.

The City Council will consider Smith’s appeal at an upcoming meeting, officials said.