NORTHERN KENTUCKY – Boone County Administrator Jeff Earlywine says his county is just trying to get out in front of the problem; the problem in this case being any adult businesses that might, someday, seek to locate in Boone County.“We’re trying to be proactive about this issue,” Earlywine told the Cincinnati Post. “We think a good time to make ourselves legally defensible is when we don’t have any legal challenge before us.”
Watching the events in nearby Kenton County, which is in the final phases of adopting a sexually oriented business ordinance of its own, Earlywine said county officials want to address the issue before they find themselves in court over it.
According to the Post, Earlywine’s strategy contrasts that of his predecessor, former administrator Jim Parsons, who argued that since no strip clubs or other adult businesses were currently planning to open in the area, passing regulations on the non-existent businesses might just stir up unnecessary trouble and possibly invite lawsuits that could otherwise be avoided.
Instead, according to the Post, Parsons simply issued warnings that any adult business that tried to open shop in Boone would face a lengthy and expensive court challenge from the county, hoping that the prospect of legal wrangling would deter adult businesses from locating in the area.
While Boone reviews its options and works on crafting its own ordinance, Kenton County’s implementation of their new ordinance is nearly complete, according to Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson.
Edmonson told the Post that the regulations are in place, and that every city in the county, with the exceptions of Latonia Lakes and Morning View, have adopted accompanying zoning ordinances that specify where sexually oriented businesses may be operated.
Under the ordinance, adult businesses will only be permitted to operate in six cities within Kenton County, including Covington, Independence, Erlanger, Elsmere, Taylor Mill, and Crestview Hills. The cities were chosen because all six have industrial areas that local officials think would be “unattractive locales for such business”, according to the Post.
Edmonson told the Post that given U.S. Supreme Court rulings holding that communities must allow for such businesses (although communities may regulate them), residents were worried that tiny residential communities in the area might end up being required to provide commercial zones for strip clubs and other adult businesses.
As a result, with backing from the county and its cities, Edmonson set to work trying to establish the entire county of Kenton as a single “community,” for the purpose of regulating adult businesses.
The six cities are not mentioned by name in the ordinance; Edmonson told the Post that they are simply the only cities in the county that have areas which are compliant with the zoning restrictions contained in the ordinance.
Those provisions include that adult businesses must be located in an industrial zone, and must be located at least 1,000 feet from any school, public recreation area, religious institution, park, library, residential area, or any other sexually oriented business.
The Post reports that there have been no challenges to the zoning aspects of Kenton’s ordinance, but that the strip club regulations have been challenged by two clubs in Covington, Rodney’s LaFoxx and Club Venus.
The clubs contend that the county’s licensing fee of $3,000 a year is excessive and that the regulation that prohibits dancers from mingling with customers off-stage is too great an impediment to the dancers’ ability to earn tips.
Edmonson assured that his staff would review the ordinance regularly to make sure it comports with decisions issued by the US Supreme Court.
Another county in Northern Kentucky, Campbell County, chipped in to pay for a study that served as a guideline for the Kenton’s ordinance and is now working on a similar ordinance of its own.
Saying that they plan to look at Kenton’s ordinance as a model for their own measure, Campbell officials hope to have a final draft of their ordinance ready sometime this fall, according to the Post.
Edmonson told the Post that the cooperative effort of Kenton and Campbell counties on creating the regulations may be unprecedented.
“We’ve achieved something that I’m not sure anybody else in the country has done,” Edmonson said. “We’re not aware of any other, two-county region coming together to act as one community when dealing with these issues. We think it’s something to be proud of.”
