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County starts over on adult ordinance
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer NEW PORT RICHEY -- It took Pasco County's lawyers years to develop two ordinances to regulate adult businesses. On Tuesday night, county commissioners scrapped them and voted to start anew. Commissioners voted 4-0 at the West Pasco Government Center to pay $27,500 for outside consultants to prepare the zoning ordinance on the businesses. Commissioners decided not to pay outside help to fix the regulating ordinance that prohibited customer-employee contact. Commissioner Steve Simon said he was not interested in pushing the regulating ordinance because the county already has public nuisance and health laws on the books that could address what goes on inside adult businesses. He said the county ordinances clearly were not on solid ground. "My recommendation when riding a dead horse is to dismount," Simon said. "I'm looking to settle." The commission was forced to redo years of work on the ordinances because of a lawsuit filed last year by Lollipops, The Players Club, Calendar Girls and 42nd Street Video. In December, a visiting federal judge in Tampa suspended the enforcement of the ordinances in the case, calling the laws repressive. The judge said it appeared that the county had tried to run the clubs and stores out of business by limiting them to industrial zones, where alcohol is prohibited. The reworking of the ordinances could lead to a settlement of the case but also could allow adult businesses in commercial districts in the future. Commissioners voted Tuesday to pay $20,000 to Ganther, Fee and Jeffries of Tampa to prepare the new zoning ordinance, and $7,500 to former zoning administrator Frederick Lowndes to help with zoning analysis. Lowndes now works for FJL Consulting Inc. "We need to do this as soon as possible because (adult) businesses are coming in" to Pasco, said chief assistant county attorney Barbara Wilhite. "They just move wherever they want." -- Saundra Amrhein covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is amrhein@sptimes.com.
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