LAKE OZARK, MO – When it comes to imposing restrictions on adult businesses, community governments will turn to zoning ordinances where obscenity ordinances have come up short, legislative shortcomings which frequently relate to unconstitutional provisions within the obscenity ordinances such communities enact.Such is the climate in which officials in Lake Ozark, MO are currently tackling the question of how to regulate local adult businesses, and one particular local gentlemen’s club, in particular.

In July, a proposed ordinance regulating sexually-oriented businesses was tabled following a public hearing in which local officials heard from both supporters and critics of the suggested measures, according to reports published in the Lake Sun Leader.

Lake Ozark Mayor Paul Sale said that he directed the city attorney to draft the regulations because he believes that the public wants such businesses to be tightly regulated. As evidence of the public’s desire for restrictions on sexually-oriented businesses, Sale pointed to a vote in April 2000 when local voters approved an ordinance requiring dancers to wear bikini tops.

“By that vote, they said they want something done,” said Sale.

The ordinance which included the bikini top provision was invalidated by the Missouri Court of Appeals, holding that the law was a violation of dancers’ First Amendment rights.

At July’s hearing, critics of the new ordinance argued that it suffered from some of the same constitutionality problems as the ordinance invalidated by the courts and said that only a single local business, Gentlemen’s Quarters, would be affected by the ordinance.

Now that the ordinance drafted by the city attorney has been tabled, Alderman Jeff Van Donsel believes he has found a simpler solution; amend city codes and zoning regulations pertaining to special use permits and “non-conforming businesses.”

“It’s a whole lot less complicated,” Van Donsel said, adding that such zoning and code modifications would “give the city oversight…. without having a 40-page ordinance concerning adult entertainment.”

The idea of his proposal is not to “run out” Gentlemen’s Quarters, Van Donsel insisted, “but if they ever shut down again, they won’t be able to reopen.”

Van Donsel’s concept would remove the protected status that existing buildings have under the state’s “grandfather clause” when such businesses change hands or go out of business.

For his part, Jim Davis, the owner of Gentlemen’s Quarters said he’d be happy to relocate his business if the city will provide a reasonable alternative location.

Davis, like many residents of Lake Ozark, has never been happy with the current location of Gentlemen’s Quarters, which has an elementary school nearby.

“If we could work something out, I’d be happy to move,” Davis said in mid-July.

Under the current codes in place in Lake Ozark, buildings maintain their grandfathered status if the premises are abandoned for less than a year. Transfers of ownership are not addressed under current codes.

The new proposals would eliminate the 12-month window for grandfathered businesses, and clarify that it is businesses and not buildings to which the grandfather clauses apply, Van Donsel said.

Van Donsel’s fellow aldermen got their first look at his proposal last week and the measures will now be passed on to the local planning and zoning commission for evaluation.