BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Zoning Administrator Ralph Hopper is urging a city board to reject efforts to turn Dominique's nightclub into a strip joint.
Strip clubs "attract individuals interested in pursuing prostitution activities," Mr. Hopper said in a report to the Board of Adjustment.
"This not only creates an obvious potential for problems for the surrounding neighborhoods but, based on the city's experience, it is clearly an activity that is more objectionable or obnoxious."
Mr. Hopper said Bistro Primo's desire to open a club featuring dancers in pasties and bikini bottoms at 433 Johnson St. near prime riverfront property requires "a change of nonconforming use." That, he cautioned, would require board members to think a strip club is "less obnoxious" and "less objectionable" than the nightclub.
It's the other way around, Mr. Hopper said, because a semi-nude dancing establishment would be worse.
Mr. Hopper has rejected the proposed club's occupational license application because semi-nude dancing would be a change in use from the nightclub.
Board of Adjustment members are scheduled to meet Wednesday to consider Bistro Primo's appeal. The session will start at 5:30 p.m. on the first floor of Covington City Hall, 638 Madison Ave. If the board denies the appeal, it must next decide whether to allow dancing instead of only live music.
Mr. Hopper opposes that, too.
Attorney Robert Lotz represents Bistro Primo, which operates Diamonds, an exotic dancing establishment near Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Lotz said Mr. Hopper is wrong on Kentucky law.
He said a change of nonconforming use is unnecessary because the site still would be a bar or nightclub, but with a new entertainment format.
He said the proposed strip club would be an upscale attraction for business people and would blend in with the proposed riverfront property. No physical contact would be permitted between the dancers and patrons and the club would be next to a well-lighted parking lot, Mr. Lotz added.
"There's no reason to believe (the proposed exotic-dancing establishment) will create a disturbance in the neighborhood," Mr. Lotz said. "In fact, if people don't want to go in there, they won't be aware of the club's existence."
Dominique's has continued as a nightclub because the building was used that way before zoning regulations prohibited entertainment facilities in the area. The property is zoned for highway commercial purposes.
