BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- The first try at a new Northern Kentucky strip club in seven years bumps right up to Covington's last piece of prime riverfront property. And that's grinding city leaders.
Bistro Primo Inc. is proposing an exotic dancing establishment at the corner of Fifth and Johnson streets, a couple of blocks from Covington's proposed $300 million upscale riverfront development. It's also a block from Covington Avenue, one of the city's first rehabilitation efforts.
The application comes as the cities of Newport and Covington -- once the go-to places for strip clubs -- have been somewhat successful in eliminating those bars and the cities' reputation of being after-dark playgrounds for the Tristate.
Bistro Primo, whose president also owns a club near Dayton, Ohio, is the first applicant for a new exotic dancing club in either Northern Kentucky city since La Madame's tried to open in Covington in 1991, local officials said.
Bistro Primo attorney Robert Lotz said Thursday that this nightclub wouldn't be like its predecessors. The proposed facility would be an improvement over the existing nightclub at the site, called Dominique's, which does not offer semi-nude dancing.
The Covington Commission just cut back last call for that nightclub from 2:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. because of problems, including fights and assaults. Mr. Lotz said the strip club's format would put a stop to those troubles.
"We believe that this particular business would be an asset to the city of Covington and would provide substantial tax revenues to the city," Mr. Lotz said.
Butch Callery, a city commissioner for a record 19 years, said he's heard that before.
"I don't think there'll be any change," he said.
He said he doesn't buy the club attorney's assertions that Bistro Primo wouldn't have the problems other strip clubs do or that Dominique's has had.
"There'll always be something going on with those type of facilities," he said.
Zoning Administrator Ralph Hopper rejected the proposed club's occupational license application because semi-nude dancing would be a change in use from the existing Dominique's nightclub. That nightclub is permitted now only because the facility was used that way before zoning regulations prohibiting entertainment facilities in that area took effect.
Mr. Lotz said the city's board of adjustments should approve his appeal when it meets Oct. 21 because adding semi-nude dancing shouldn't cause the building to lose its exemption from the zoning restrictions.
It's still a bar and nightclub, he said. "It does not change the way in which the property is currently being used."
Mr. Callery said he's most concerned for homeowners around the proposed club.
While much of the property in the area is not residential, Covington Avenue, one of the city's first concentrated efforts at rehabilitating older housing, is a block away.
"A lot of people have invested a lot of money in the neighborhood surrounding the area," Mr. Callery said.
He expects grass-roots neighborhood efforts to oppose the club, like the Covington Clean Sweep Coalition did when past clubs were proposed.
Covington has reduced its number of adult entertainment bars to eight, Mr. Hopper said.
Newport now has only three strip clubs, compared with 17 in 1982. "They've basically been cleaned up," Mr. Callery said. "You don't really here much about them."
The city is planning a $300 million development nearby that would include condominiums, office towers and riverfront restaurants and entertainment centers.
A club offering semi-nude dancing "wasn't one of the businesses our long-range plans were considering" for the area, Mr. Callery said.
"If we did not think that it would be a successful format and one that would be welcomed by both persons visiting and living in the area, we wouldn't be attempting to open it here," Mr. Lotz said. He said the city operates its own nightclub a few blocks away as well.
The city operates the Covington Landing entertainment barges, which have nightclubs that are leased -- but do not have semi-nude dancing.
And, Mr. Lotz stressed, Primo Bistro would be different.
The company's president is Scott R. Conrad, who is an owner of Diamonds near Dayton, Ohio. Lt. Michael Fox of the Montgomery County sheriff's department said Diamonds has caused only routine problems.
"From a law enforcement standpoint, it has not been a problem for us any more than any liquor establishment," Lt. Fox said.
Primo Bistro would be different from other strip clubs, Mr. Lotz said, because: no physical contact between patrons and dancers would be allowed; dancers would not sell higher-priced drinks, and it would comply with the city's no-nudity law.
He said the club would be well-lighted in addition to other improvements to the building's interior.
"Everything that is done is done first class," Mr. Lotz said.
