‘A lot of bad things happen…’ – Florida Times

It’s safe to say there are few metropolitan areas without a “red light” district, those thoroughfares strung together with adult novelty stores, strip clubs and X-rated movie theaters. Need a better example? Think Orlando’s Orange Blossom Trail, or Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Since 1985, when it enacted an all-out ban on sexually oriented businesses in unincorporated areas, Clay County leaders have been able to prevent such establishments from setting up shop. However, a series of proposed changes to the county’s adult entertainment ordinance could ease those restrictions.

The Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 last month to hire Michael Kahn, a Melbourne attorney and expert in constitutional law, to revise its existing regulations on adult entertainment.

All “erotic content,” whether written, danced, or filmed, is protected as free speech under the First Amendment. Cities or other municipalities with a complete prohibition on businesses that deal in such content leaves them open to legal challenge.

County Attorney Mark Scruby, who has worked for the county since 1986, has been urging the county commission to make similar changes for years. The commission was spurred to action after it received a phone call last November inquiring about which zoning ordinances would allow adult entertainment.

“A straight ban was too broad,” Scruby said. “The law says we have to provide a reasonable opportunity to do business, but it doesn’t have to be prime real estate.”

HOW OTHER COUNTIES HAVE RESPONDED

The county’s current laws cover all unincorporated areas, including Middleburg. The incorporated areas of Orange Park, Green Cove Springs and Keystone Heights each have their own separate codes in place to prohibit sexually oriented businesses.

In other parts of the Jacksonville area, there are a variety of laws meant to keep a rein on such enterprises.

Baker County has zero adult entertainment businesses and an anti-nudity ordinance on the books, dating to 1992. St. Johns County also has an anti-nudity ordinance, which has been upheld in federal court. What’s more, the city of St. Augustine enlisted Kahn to draft its adult entertainment legislation in 2007.

That same year, Nassau County, which has one sexually oriented business (a retail shop), enacted its own set of rules.

“So many people were picketing when the place was going to open,” said Anita Dobroskey of the Nassau County Planning and Zoning office. “We had to address the issue.”

According to Dobroskey, the law in Nassau states that sexually oriented businesses cannot sell alcohol or be located within 1,000 feet of establishments that sell alcohol. In addition, the establishment must be at least 2,500 feet from any churches, elementary or secondary schools, kindergartens, licensed day care facilities, private residence or other sexually oriented business.

Under Kahn’s plan, the new ordinance for Clay County would have three components: regulatory, public nudity, and location.

The location portion would map out where a sexually oriented business might operate, and is basically a rezoning clause.

“We haven’t yet determined exactly which zones would be affected,” said Scruby. “At any rate, it wouldn’t be global. Not every parcel zoned IB (Heavy Industrial), for instance, would be adjusted.”

Nearly all of the adult entertainment establishments in the metro area are located within Duval County, which has 25 businesses that fall into that category.

Even so, the code regulating those businesses is subject to continuous scrutiny.

The Jacksonville City Council recently amended its regulations targeting “dancing entertainment establishments,” after the city’s Planning Commission denied Albanese Enterprises the zoning exception it needed to open a bikini bar on Baymeadows Road.

The company filed suit and, in February, a federal judge ruled the code was too broad. Despite revisions, the city’s request for a stay on that ruling was denied last month.

The city will now have to appeal to the 11th Circuit Court if it wishes to stop the
bikini bar from opening.

MUST THE LAW CHANGE?

Commissioner Ronnie Robinson provided the lone dissenting vote in last month’s decision to revise the Clay County ordinance.

His biggest problem is with the premise of the proposed changes: the idea is that if the county makes it difficult enough, the businesses won’t want to bother opening stores or clubs in the area. Robinson feels the restrictions won’t stop a business owner with enough resources and capital, however, nor will the new ordinance ensure a positive outcome in court.

“Kahn tells us the current law won’t stand up in court, but in 29 years it’s never been questioned,” he said. “Even if we establish this new ordinance, there’s still no guarantee we can win a challenge.”

Robinson moved to Clay in 1966, and since that time, the county has blossomed from roughly 20,000 to nearly 200,000 residents. With the anticipated toll-road extension, those numbers could rise even more.

“Of course, we’re going to grow,” said Robinson, “but that doesn’t mean we have to open the door to these places.”

COUNTY PREDECESSORS

It appears that Clay has never had much of a problem with strip clubs or other types of adult entertainment, according to Clay County archivist Vishi Garig.

“Back in the WWII years, it looks like there were a few ‘establishments of ill repute,’ but that’s about it,” Garig said.

In the mid-1990s, however, a former Orange Park nightclub known as the Gentleman’s Club was the scene of a raid by deputies with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, then under the direction of Sheriff Scott Lancaster.

According to a 1996 story in the Times-Union, officers arrested 12 dancers on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, which included displaying their breasts and buttocks, along with lap dancing.

The story reported that the club had been open at the corner of Blanding Boulevard and Wells Road for about six years. It operated within a companion lounge called Shades, and both have been shuttered for several years now.

At the time, two owners and a manager of the club were also charged with violating the adult entertainment ordinance now under review. That same ordinance was instrumental in closing Pretty Lady, a lingerie modeling business, in 1994.

‘TOPLESS BARS KILLED BURLESQUE’

Stripping, often more politely called exotic dance, has been around at least since the time of Salome and her “Dance of the Seven Veils.” As entertainment, even though it has always carried naughty overtones, it was once a bit more respectable.

Orange Park resident Lillian Brown was born in Cambridge, Mass., and worked as a stripper in that area from 1947 to 1955. Her book, Banned in Boston: Memoirs of a Stripper, tells of a very different environment from today’s seedy, no-holds-barred nudity.

“We were not allowed to strip directly in front of anyone; we always had to use a screen or fans, like Sally Rand,” Brown said “It used to be called ‘striptease,’ because that’s exactly what it was.”

According to Brown, dancers were never allowed to fully reveal themselves, and vulgarity was strictly prohibited. The strip act was part of a complete nightclub performance that included comedy, magicians and music, for example.

Her fellow performers included future show business legends such as Robert Goulet, Joel Grey and Garry Marshall. The troupe worked a theater circuit throughout the Northeast and Canada, as they awaited the break that would take them to Broadway.

Brown comes from a family of entertainers. In the 1920s, both parents were active in vaudeville and burlesque shows, genres known as much for raunchy comedy as underdressed women. By mid-century, after Brown left the business, the industry was spiraling into an underworld of vice and sleaze.

The advent of topless bars, full frontal nudity and hard-core pornography undoubtedly played a role.

“Topless bars killed burlesque,” Brown said. “If I had ever done what they do these days, even on TV, they would have locked me up and thrown away the key permanently.”

However, Brown was not immune to the laws of the time. She once spent three days in jail on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct, “for shaking my booty wearing ruffled panties.”

WILL CRIME FOLLOW?

Perhaps the biggest argument against any sort of adult entertainment business is the element of crime that often accompanies such enterprises. Indeed, search on the words “strip club” in any major newspaper’s digital archives, and the results inevitably contain a host of stories relating to drug busts, shootings or other criminal activities.

Robinson agrees, noting that his opposition comes less from a moral standpoint than one of public safety.

“I’m as conservative as they come, but I’m not against them because of God or morality,” said Robinson. “A lot of bad things happen around these places and we just don’t need that.”

A perfect example of the vice often associated with adult entertainment comes from Seattle, where Frank Colacurcio Sr., operator of an adult entertainment empire since the 1950s, became embroiled in an illegal campaign contribution scandal known as “Strippergate.”

He and his son, Frank Jr., along with four associates, were accused of conspiracy, money laundering, promoting prostitution and mail fraud. The group was finally indicted in 2009, but the elder Colacurcio passed away before doing any prison time.

For her part, Brown feels the businesses themselves don’t cause crime, but it’s the alcohol that is often served along with the skin on display.

“The bars stay open late, and the drunks are the ones that cause the trouble,” Brown said. “These days the clubs are so crude and violent; otherwise I really wouldn’t be concerned.”

At least one other Orange Park resident said that if strip clubs or other adult entertainment establishments were to open in Clay, it would not bother her.

“I don’t really care,” said Liz Darkmore, a graphic designer and mother of two grown children. “If people are stupid enough to pay to see that, at least it brings in more revenue to the county.”

It remains to be seen when the changes might take effect, or whether they will even change the existing business landscape. From a spiritual perspective, church leaders are without question against loosening any aspect of the current law.

Tim Martin, one of the senior associate pastors at First Baptist Church of Middleburg, agreed with Robinson, noting that Clay residents are primarily conservative by nature.

“Most of the folks out here love the Lord and love their way of life,” Martin said. “These types of businesses will infringe upon that way of life.”

Martin had no doubt that residents would organize in protest against any new adult bookstore or other similar operation that might come to town. A member of the community for more than 30 years, he believes that unless something has a definite positive impact on children and families, local citizens do not support it.

He also pointed out that while the Bible does not address this specific type of activity, it does speak clearly to something more tangible.

“It does talk about the love of money in several places, such as Hebrews and 1 Timothy,” Martin said. “That’s really what this is all about.”

Anne Hammock: (904) 359-4674

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