Westminster Topless Bar Wins in Court : Jurisprudence: A judge rules that the city’s reasons weren’t credible when it decided to renege on a permit for the nightspot.

In a victory for the owners of a topless bar, a Los Angeles federal court judge ruled Friday that Westminster concocted phony reasons to deny the nightclub an operating permit.

City officials said the ruling strips the city of its ability to restrict adult businesses, which they contend attract crime and undesirable customers.

“What this means for the people within the city is that they have no control over what kind of garbage comes in,” said Councilman Frank Fry Jr. “You try to clean up the city and make it a livable community, and the courts come along and say you have to let in all this.”

In a 45-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Laughlin E. Waters said the city’s zeal to close Scamps, a nightclub at 7000 Garden Grove Blvd., only worked to undermine its effort.

In January, 1994, a report by Planning and Building Director Michael Bouvier recommended granting the club a permit to operate.

When community outrage erupted, Bouvier’s report was quickly reworked. One month later, the drastically altered report recommended opposing a permit for Scamps, citing inadequate parking, the potential for attracting crime and other issues, according to the ruling.

“At trial, Mr. Bouvier testified that the differences were based upon new information brought to his attention in the intervening month,” Waters wrote. “The court finds that this explanation is not credible.”

The court concluded the changes in the report were “motivated by the desire to prevent a topless bar from opening anywhere in the city rather than being based upon an objective application of the criteria.”

Scamps attorney Roger Jon Diamond said the court’s ruling also forces the city to pay his attorney’s fees, which he said are “well over $100,000.” Diamond said he was so confident of his client’s position that he repeatedly asked the city to simply drop their opposition.

“We told them, ‘Just let us exist, we’re in the right here,’ ” Diamond said. “They didn’t, the court ruled against them, and now they have to pay us thousands of the taxpayers’ money.”

“It was a big risk,” Diamond said, adding the the club owner put thousands of dollars in improvements into the nightspot. “And it’s quite a victory.”

Diamond said his client’s next step is applying for an alcohol license.

The former rock ‘n’ roll club hasn’t experienced any problems since it began operating in February, 1995, with court approval, pending the outcome of the legal action.

“This is a very high-class kind of club,” he said.

The judge also found the city’s ordinances overly vague and discriminating against topless dancing, which is protected by the First Amendment.

City officials are not sure what their next move will be, but the ordinance is likely to be redrafted.

“We need the attorneys to take a look at this and figure it out,” Fry said.