SUNNYSIDE, WA — Chuck Egley doesn’t even run an adult entertainment focused business, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t have to comply with the new Sunnyside, WA laws that restrict such entertainment. Egley owns and operates a bar that offers live music and dancing on Fridays and Saturdays. Since his patrons have asked him to add space for pole and private dancing, the savvy businessman took their requests to heart and applied for a license in July that would allow such patron-based dance spaces.
Alas for Egley, who spoke with the Yakima Herald-Republic about the matter, the city staff members who assisted him with the paperwork decided to include the terms “adult entertainment” and “exotic dancing,” thus inspiring a political push-back from the City Council.
“They won’t be showing any of their vital parts,” Egley assured the press, explaining that he merely wishes to expand the kinds of dance areas available at his bar.
Although Egley admits that he has considered hiring professional dancers for his bar, he insists that he ultimately decided to keep his focus customer-based. Nonetheless, allowing patrons to dirty dance with one another may still cause his business to fall under the new and more restrictive requirements that apply to strip clubs and other adult businesses.
“I’m not sure if what he’s proposing constitutes adult entertainment or not,” city attorney Mark Kunkler admitted to the Yakima Herald-Republic.
While the city decides whether allowing two consenting adults who like to get up-close-and-personal while dancing to do so in a discreet space – or letting a spirited bar patron take a spin on a metal pole — constitutes offering adult entertainment, those businesses whose mission is unquestionably adult have some adjustments to make.
Among the new restrictions that the City Council placed upon adult businesses is a requirement that all owners, managers and performers obtain a license. Dancers must remain four-feet from patrons and perform only on a stage. Additionally, businesses must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, churches, city parks and other adult businesses.
According to the Herald-Republic, Egley doesn’t have a problem with any of the new rules – he simply doesn’t think they apply to him or his business.
