Court Says Simi Valley Illegally Rejected Strip Club
Simi Valley violated the 1st Amendment rights of the developer of a sexually oriented business by unreasonably denying him zoning permits needed to open a strip club, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
The 2-1 ruling, released this week in Santa Ana, was on an appeal argued in April 1999 before federal judges Warren J. Ferguson, A. Wallace Tashima and Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, who dissented.
This marks the third time in nearly 20 years that the courts have ruled against the city’s zoning laws on adult businesses.
The ruling upheld a 1997 U.S. District Court decision that Simi Valley’s restrictive zoning ordinance violated the constitutional rights of developer Philip Young, because it denied him “reasonable opportunity to open and operate” an adult club in the city.
Bert Deixler, a private attorney representing Simi Valley, said it is too soon to say whether the city will take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Young’s attorney, Roger Jon Diamond, heralded the appeals court decision as one that will have “‘statewide and nationwide implication.”
The ruling said Simi Valley’s ordinance unfairly granted a Bible study group the veto power to block Young from opening a club in a retail mall featuring naked dancers.
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