LAKEVILLE, MN – A state law passed in Minnesota last year that was championed by its legislative supporters as a means to protect small towns that lack ordinances regulating adult businesses from becoming unwilling hosts to strip clubs may now be rejected by at least one small town in the state, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.Lakeville, MN, a town that has no strip clubs currently, is considering opting out of adopting the new state law regulating strip clubs – an option that is available under a clause in the law.
Tom Grundhoefer, an attorney with the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC), said the law is “sort of on the cutting edge of regulating this sort of adult entertainment,” according to the Star Tribune.
In a LMC bulletin, Grundhoefer wrote that a provision in the state law that allows cities to deny strip club owners permission to open in their city if there are other strip clubs within 50 miles of the city in question “represents a significant departure from existing case law, which has generally required cities to provide a place for adult business establishments to locate.”
In light of that departure from case law, the League has advised cities to construct their own ordinances, and/or take advantage of the new law’s opt-out clause, according to the Star Tribune.
In addition to the “50 mile” rule, the statewide law requires prospective strip club owners to give cities 60 days notice before opening, limits the hours of operation for strip clubs, prohibits people convicted of some sex crimes from owning or managing such clubs, and sets distance requirements restricting how close such clubs can be to schools, residences, churches, and other strip clubs.
Despite the criticism of the bill and serious questions about its constitutionality, one of the authors of the measure expressed confidence that the law would weather legal challenges.
“We recognized the possibility that there would be legal challenges” said State Representative Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City), “but we modeled it after laws in other states where it had withstood the challenge.”
Critics of the law disagree with Urdahl’s assessment and say the law is ripe for challenge.
Randall Tigue, an attorney who represented strip club owners in a federal lawsuit filed last July against the cities of Minneapolis and Duluth called the law a “sitting duck,” according to the Star Tribune.
“Anybody who challenges that state statute will get it thrown out,” Tigue asserted.
The lawsuit filed last summer was withdrawn after both cities dropped their resistance to the clubs after a judge issued a preliminary injunction, finding that the law was likely to be found unconstitutional.
Tigue suggested that more cities should follow Lakeville’s lead and forego enforcement of the state law.
“If they [cities] have a local ordinance that they’re satisfied with, they probably ought to opt out of the law,” Tigue said.
