Rules for adult businesses stand

A federal judge finds no fault with three ordinances passed last year.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 6, 2007

TAMPA - Three Hillsborough County ordinances regulating adult businesses and prohibiting scantily clad employees from touching customers are legal, a federal judge has ruled.

The ordinances "do not constitute a ban on sexually oriented businesses, but rather regulations on time, place and manner," U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara wrote in a ruling issued Thursday. "The court finds that the ordinances are crafted to serve a substantial government interest - a reduction in negative secondary effects, while allowing for reasonable alternative channels of communication."

Hillsborough County commissioners unanimously passed the ordinances in September 2006. They required sexually oriented businesses and their employees to obtain licenses. The ordinances also called for the following:

- Strippers must perform in a room of at least 1,000 square feet.

- Adult theaters inside adult bookstores must be lit to a specific level of brightness.

- Private viewing rooms must be visible from a central operating station.

- Scantily clad employees cannot touch customers in establishments that sell alcohol.

The same month the ordinances passed, several businesses filed a complaint in federal court against the county. The bikini bars that sued included Tootsies in Tampa, Showgirls in Plant City and Showgirls in Valrico. Several adult bookstores also joined the complaint, including 4-Play Videos III, Pleasures I and Planet X.

Luke Lirot, attorney for the adult businesses, said in the complaint that the county had no basis for passing the ordinances. The county claimed that physical contact in bikini bars leads to unlawful sexual activity.

In September, Hillsborough County agreed to a settlement with Gemini Property Ventures, which operates the Valrico Showgirls bikini bar. Under terms of the settlement, the county agreed to pay the bikini bar about $49,000.

Bar owners sued for money they claimed to have lost because county officials intentionally delayed the bar's opening. At one point, a county building official said then-Commissioner Ronda Storms asked him to hold off on issuing a document giving the business the green light to open.

The Florida Commission on Ethics later cleared Storms of any wrongdoing.

Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 6, 2007, 00:18:53]