BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- A proposal for a strip club at Dominique's nightclub was rejected by the Board of Adjustments Wednesday night because it was judged to be a change in use.
Lawyers for Bistro Primo Inc. argued that seminude dancing wouldn't constitute a significant change in the use of the nightclub. It would still be a nightclub, and therefore Zoning Administrator Ralph Hopper should have allowed the club to open.
In a unanimous vote, the zoning board agreed with Mr. Hopper's analysis that seminudity would be a significant change, and Bistro Primo lawyer Louis Sirkin promised a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Covington's zoning code.
"This is a free-speech right," he said.
The Bistro Primo proposal was opposed by numerous Covington residents and neighborhood groups for reasons like Julius Trammer's. The Covington resident said he could tell his wife he went to Dominique's nightclub and not have to worry about getting in too much trouble. The strip club, he said, would be another story.
"There's a big difference between going to a nightclub to dance and going to a nightclub to watch dancing," he said.
Bistro Primo's application was the first for a new strip club in seven years in the Northern Kentucky towns of Covington and Newport, where the clubs were once a mainstay.
"I personally feel that this would be a step backward in all the advances that we have made," said resident Sue Puffenberger. The issue of seminude dancing is important because the nightclub at 433 Johnson St. was operated that way before zoning regulations banned it in the area. A significant change would cause that exemption to be lost unless the Board of Adjustments extended it.
In addition to the residents, Covington Assistant Police Chief Bill Dorsey cited statistics from several cities that said crime rates go up near adult entertainment establishments.
In the city, he said the clubs lead to increases in prostitution and drug arrests.
"Historically, we've found that adult entertainment or sexually oriented (businesses), whether by design or by happenstance, they draw the elements of crime," Lt. Col. Dorsey said. "It's like a magnet."
He said that even if this strip club is as different as its lawyers say, the results will be the same.
Dominique's has been a problem spot for police for some time, Lt. Col. Dorsey and residents said.
The owners of Bistro Primo operate a similar club, Diamonds, near Dayton, Ohio. The owners' lawyers said that club has had fewer problems than its predecessors.
Lawyers said the proposed Covington club would be an upscale attraction for business people and would blend in with proposed riverfront developments. No physical contact would be permitted between the dancers and patrons. Dancers would be in pasties and bikini bottoms.
Mr. Sirkin said Covington's zoning regulations are unconstitutional because they don't allow a prompt appeal. "You have closed the performance before it's even allowed to be performed," he said. Mr. Sirkin said the appeal will be made in Kenton Circuit Court, U.S. District Court or both.
He said he wasn't surprised by the board's vote, acknowledging that strip clubs usually lose at this level. He said he was disappointed anyway because the board should recognize the denial of a form of free speech. "There are certain constitutional rights," Mr. Sirkin said.
