Council Revamps Adult Business Laws

After working on a package of adult business laws for almost two years, the City Council approved the ordinance on Tuesday with little comment.

The sweeping collection of regulations unveiled by city staff not only controls where and when adult businesses can operate, but also places restrictions on employees such as strip tease dancers and waitresses.

Adult businesses such as strip parlors and bookstores will be permitted only in industrial areas.

The ordinance also requires them to be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, residences, parks and churches.

The city law requires background checks on all employees and for live entertainers to be issued permits. Any dancer or nude model performing without a permit would be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Senior Planner Gayle Ackerman told the council that the city couldn’t completely do away with adult businesses.

“Adult businesses are protected by the 1st Amendment,” she said. “No city can completely ban adult businesses. What cities can do is regulate the secondary effects of them,” such as deterioration of neighborhoods because of crime allegedly attracted by such businesses.

The city originally passed a moratorium on adult businesses in June 1994. The moratorium was set to expire next month.

In contrast to the public furor over the ordinance that existed when city officials began researching adult business laws, there was very little interest shown by the community Tuesday.

City officials said the lack of public response stemmed from the abandonment of plans for an all-nude dance hall proposed by Mark Bailey, the owner of a Lake Forest strip club.