City officials say they are serious about removing semi-nude dancers from Center Street, but LeMar's nightclub is just as serious about keeping them.
The fate of dancers at LeMar's - as well as the city's sexually oriented business ordinance - now rests in the hands of a judge.Attorneys for LeMar's, which sparked a public outcry when it introduced semi-nude dancers last summer, have filed a lawsuit in 4th District Court protesting a city ordinance that would force dancers to stop dancing or force LeMar's to move out of down-town.
LeMar's says a May 1 deadline given by the city is "arbitrary and capricious," and has asked Judge Howard H. Maetani to prohibit Provo from enforcing the ordinance until the suit is resolved.
"Despite plaintiffs' complete compliance with all required ordinances of the city of Provo, (the city) has indicated its intention in writing to do what is necessary to put (LeMar's) out of business or to force plaintiffs to stop exercising their rights to free expression," wrote attorney Andrew McCullough in the suit.
In a letter dated Dec. 23 - just a week after Provo passed a sexually oriented business ordinance that effectively banished LeMar's to the East Bay area in southeast Provo - Assistant City Attorney Gary McGinn told McCullough that LeMar's would have to comply by May 1 or "Provo city will commence criminal and/or civil enforcement actions."
McGinn said Monday that the city could have shut down LeMar's entirely if it was still out of compliance after the deadline, although a more likely course of action would have been through the courts.
"We would have expected them to comply with the ordinance," McGinn said. "I doubt seriously that we would have (shut them down). That's a pretty drastic measure."
However, the suit filed on behalf of the Center Street business contends that Provo seeks to deny rights of property ownership to LeMar's owner Lamar Driggs and to take away his livelihood without legal grounds.
The suit also asserts that Provo is attempting to take away Driggs' First Amendment right to freedom of expression and that the city unconstitutionally targeted LeMar's to drive it out of business.
LeMar's requested an injunction against Provo, a declaratory judgment that the sexually oriented business ordinance is invalid and unspecified monetary damages. Maetani will hear arguments from both sides at a hearing later this month.
The City Council passed a sexually oriented business ordinance shortly after exotic dancers appeared at LeMar's last year. However, LeMar's dancers were able to continue as a non-conforming use.
Dancers at the strip joint strip down to pasties and T-back bikinis in a room separate from where alcohol is served at LeMar's.
In December, the City Council adopted a new zoning ordinance that requires sexually oriented businesses such as bookstores and strip joints to be located in the industrial area at East Bay. McCullough contends that the city failed to give LeMar's a "specific and reasonable amortization period" for compliance.
"That will have to be resolved in court," McGinn said.
In August, a group of residents protested the presence of exotic dancers by picketing in front of LeMar's. Former Provo Mayor George Stewart was a vocal critic of the semi-nude dancing, and he wrote a message to Provo residents in September outlining his opposition.
LeMar's says in its suit that Stewart acknowledged the city could only regulate sexually oriented businesses - not ban them - yet the city tried to snuff out exotic dancing anyway.