Simi Plans to Appeal Ruling on Adult Entertainment Law

Simi Valley officials will appeal a judge’s decision to toss out the city’s adult entertainment law, although they must wait until the ruling becomes final.

After closed-session discussions late Monday, the City Council voted unanimously to authorize City Atty. John Torrance to file an appeal of the ruling to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The ruling in question is the latest salvo in businessman Phil Young’s quest to bring a strip club to Simi Valley. In response to a lawsuit Young filed against the city, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Rea found unconstitutional a local ordinance that prohibits nude dance clubs from operating within 1,000 feet of a school or religious facility or within 500 feet of a business that caters to youth.

In the tentative ruling, which could become final in a week to 10 days, Rea said the Simi Valley law was faulty on two counts: It allows churches and schools to bump an adult business at any stage of the permitting process. And it leaves only three areas of the city open to businesses such as strip clubs, escort services, massage parlors and the like.

That number is too few, Rea wrote, considering that nude dance is considered free expression under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution.

“When the judge’s ruling becomes final, then I have the discretion to appeal if the final ruling is adverse to the city’s interests,” Torrance said Tuesday.

It is possible--although unlikely--that Rea could reconsider his tentative findings and uphold the city’s ordinance, Torrance noted. In that case, the city would not appeal.

Also Monday, the city hurriedly adopted a 45-day moratorium on businesses including adult bookshops and novelty stores, strip clubs in which people appear nude or semi-nude, movie theaters showing pornography, escort services, massage parlors and cabarets.

That moratorium, which could be extended for up to two years, gives city leaders time to craft a new law should Rea’s final ruling strike down the current ordinance.

Though cities cannot legally ban adult establishments from moving into town, they can regulate the harmful side effects such establishments may bring, such as crime and prostitution.