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Thursday, August 05, 1999
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ordinances target adult businesses
Commissioners want to increase distance between adult materials stores from 500 feet to 1,000 feet.
By Steve Friess
Review-Journal
In Clark County's newest assault on the proliferation of adult-oriented businesses, commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday that would place a 60-day moratorium on the opening of any such outfits.
Another ordinance also was introduced that would increase the distance between the property lines of adult-oriented businesses to 1,000 feet from the current 500 feet. The larger distance would bring the county's law in line with that of the city of Las Vegas.
Commissioners have scheduled a public hearing on the two ordinances for their Aug. 18 zoning meeting. If passed, the ordinances would go into effect Sept. 1.
Still, county officials predicted the commission will pass the moratorium only if members cannot agree on what, if any, increase in the distance requirements to make.
"If they do something (on the distance between businesses), then they probably won't need the moratorium," said Lesa Coder, the county's assistant director of current planning.
Commissioner Lance Malone, who said he has worked for four months to craft the proposed law, agreed that's the strategy. The 60-day moratorium would prevent a rush of applicants from deluging the county permit division while commissioners and staff consider alternative ways to stymie the growth of the adult-material industry, he said.
"They're legal businesses, but they don't have to be on every corner," said Malone, who fretted over a recently opened adult bookstore near Valley View Road and Meade Avenue that is "much too close" to an apartment complex.
Adult businesses in Clark County are permitted in areas zoned for industrial uses. The most prominent of these areas are along Industrial Road behind the Strip and around Paradise Road near McCarran International Airport.
Malone said he has met with Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald because both are concerned that adult-business operators are skirting the city's law by opening shop south of Sahara Avenue across city boundaries. Malone said Las Vegas police have seen a rise in calls for service in that area and have linked that to the increase in such businesses.
Other commissioners, including Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Mary Kincaid, have publicly stated their support for either a moratorium or some means of slowing the proliferation.
"I always say, 'To each his own,' but I don't think it's good to have rows and rows of (adult-oriented businesses) in the same area," Kincaid said.
The commission was slated to consider the 1,000-foot spacing at its July 7 meeting, but the matter was pulled from the agenda when Coder said the county's legal staff needed to tweak it.
Then, at the July 21 meeting, the Rev. Dave Casaleggio of Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church surprised commissioners by chastising them for delaying on the matter.
Casaleggio said he was there because parishioners of the church on Alta Drive west of Rancho Drive were concerned about rumors that owners of The Sporting House might sell out to a strip-club developer.
The new ordinance would prevent the Sporting House, an upscale health club at 3025 Industrial Road, from ever being an adult business because it would be too close to another strip joint, Crazy Horse Too.
Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo is close friends with McDonald and Casaleggio, and both attended a small 51st birthday party for the priest in May. Both also are parishioners of the church.
Still, Casaleggio insisted he isn't pushing the issue to prevent The Sporting House from becoming competition for Rizzolo's business. The priest said his friendship with the strip-club owner came about because Rizzolo's children have attended the church's school.
"I'm making the point that a 500-foot separation just isn't enough," said Casaleggio, who attended Wednesday's meeting. "I don't make a moral point about topless places or adult bookstores. Legally, they're lawful. In church would I say it's a good thing? No."
Sporting House owner Corey Jenkins attended the meeting Wednesday even though he has repeatedly said he has no intention of selling his six-acre property or turning it into an adult business. Even so, Jenkins said, he's likely to oppose the 1,000-foot rule because "it only stands to follow that it might hurt the (Sporting House's) value."
"This could adversely impact future opportunities for this property," Jenkins said. "I don't intend to do it, but I feel sort of singled out. Everyone wants to gang up and say, 'You know what? We're going to take away that use for that property.' "
Commissioner Dario Herrera also was invited to the priest's party but he did not attend. Herrera said he will abstain from voting on the adult business ordinances matter because a partner in his public relations firm represents some prominent strip-club owners.
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