DATE: Friday, October 10, 1997              TAG: 9710100652

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   95 lines

BEACH MAY TIGHTEN CONTROL ON ADULT CLUBS COUNCIL'S MCCLANAN LEADS AN EFFORT TO CLOSE A LEGAL LOOPHOLE IN THE CITY'S PERMIT PROCESS.

City Councilwoman Reba S. McClanan has vowed to change the law so that the city has greater control over restaurants that cater mostly or entirely to adults.

Her first step is removing a legal loophole that could allow club owners to bypass the Planning Commission and the City Council for permission to open.

McClanan won the Planning Commission's endorsement of her plan this week and hopes to get her council colleagues' support later this month.

She says it's only the beginning.

Her action was prompted in August by a businessman's attempt to convert a sports bar and grill in her Princess Anne Borough into a J.B.'s Gallery of Girls.

Neighbors and other area businesses banded together to defeat the proposed go-go club.

The city said the owner, Frank Beal, had to apply for a conditional use permit, which is a time-consuming process that requires approval from the Beach Planning Commission and City Council.

According to city code, a use permit is required for any eating and drinking establishment if it:

Serves alcohol.

Is located within 500 feet of a residential area.

Operates between midnight and 2 a.m.

Excludes persons on the basis of age at any time during the day or night, or provides entertainment that is audible at an adjoining property.

Beal said he had talked about closing at 11:59 p.m. to avoid one of the criteria, which would have avoided the need for a permit.

Under McClanan's proposed change, the midnight to 2 a.m. condition would be deleted.

``This is just minor - it just closes the loophole and puts us in working order,'' McClanan said. ``I haven't finished yet.''

McClanan said she's looking at regulations that Richmond uses in dealing with certain establishments with alcohol licenses.

She added that she is concerned about a possible increase in personnel at Oceana Naval Air Station if the Navy decides to move 180 F/A-18s there.

``I'm concerned that with this proposed increase in the expansion of the Navy here, we may see a push for more of these bars and go-gos. . . . And I want to try to anticipate that,'' she said.

Beal, who owns one J.B.'s outlet on Oceana Boulevard across from the base, calls that silly.

Beal agreed he might get more customers, but he said he doesn't believe more people will try to open exotic dancing places.

Beal said he welcomes stricter rules on adult entertainment because it would make it tougher on competition.

Beal said, though, that his business was being singled out unfairly when the city said he needed a conditional use permit to change his sports bar and grill near Lynnhaven Mall to a J.B.'s.

``If the city has rules, we don't care, as long as they enforce them across the board,'' Beal said.

Virginia Beach's law doesn't specifically name go-go bars, although it targets places that are more bar than restaurant.

Patrons can eat and drink at J.B.'s six Hampton Roads clubs, but the prime attractions are the dancers.

Virginia Beach isn't the first to shine a bright light on this issue.

Responding to longstanding neighborhood concerns, the Norfolk City Council in August adopted tighter rules over where go-go clubs and other nightspots could open and what kind of entertainment they could offer.

Among other things, the changes to the Norfolk zoning code prevent restaurants from bringing in exotic dancers without first going through a city review and obtaining a special-use permit.

Although the Virginia Beach Planning Commission members approved McClanan's changes on Wednesday - one day after the council referred the matter to them - several commissioners said the restaurant community did not have enough time to comment.

``I don't think that's the path we generally travel,'' said Commissioner E.R. Cockrell Jr. The process wasn't ``as smooth and open as I'd like it to be.''

They asked that council members lend more of an ear to the restaurant community's concerns before they vote on the matter.

The commission received three faxes from people, including the president of the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association, opposing the changes.

The city has had the four-pronged conditional-use permit rule since 1992, making it easier for the council to have more of a say in approving such establishments. The council can either impose special rules for a business or turn down its application.

``It doesn't mean that the conditional-use permit won't be issued - it just means that they have to go through the process,'' said Vanessa Valldejuli, an assistant city attorney. ``It will not affect . . . establishments that are already doing this, and it will not affect your traditional restaurant.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Adult establishments already in operation, such as this one on

Oceana Boulevard, would not be affected by the Virginia Beach

proposal to tighten permitting procedures. KEYWORDS: ZONING ORDINANCES

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