Council to decide fate of topless club

Diana Sahagun

Tuesday, May 15, 2001 | 11:05 a.m.

The fate of a topless club that has been the target of a stream of lawsuits and ethics complaints will be decided by the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday, when members are scheduled to vote on whether to extend the club's permit.

Resident John Lonetti and his attorney plan to have their say, as well. They intend to protest the item, arguing that an approval would amount to bad planning as it relates to land use.

Lonetti sued the city in April 2000, when the council granted the original tavern license to political consultant Sig Rogich. The lawsuit is pending in district court.

The council in February voted to transfer the Board Room's tavern license from Rogich to brothers Ali and Hassan Davari of Houston. There was one condition: The club would be shut down if an arrest -- and subsequent conviction -- for sexually-oriented activities, such as prostitution, is made at the establishment.

The provision stemmed from police allegations of illegal activities at the Davaris' Houston clubs.

Representatives of Ranger Building Corp., which owns the property, will ask for a one-year extension because the project has been delayed by the sale and pending litigation, according to a company letter. The company also needs more time to submit design plans to the Planning Commission.

Attorney Garry Hayes, who is representing Lonetti, said he would ask the council to pull the item from the consent agenda. Typically, the consent portion of the agenda is composed of items approved in one motion without discussion.

Hayes said an attorney from his firm who attended the April 12 Planning Commission meeting asked members to place the issue for discussion, but he was told extension of time permits are not public hearing items. The commission approved the extension and forwarded its recommendation to the council.

The site of the proposed Board Room, a 20,198-square-foot office complex near Rancho Drive and Sahara Avenue, is bound by small streets and alleys, Hayes said. The office is located in an industrial zone, but a tavern can operate with a special use permit.

According to tentative site plans, Ranger Building Corp. has provided the required 174 parking spaces. A little more than 50 of those spaces will be located on-site and 119 spaces will be almost a block away on Highland Drive.

Hayes said Lonetti owns a small gift business on Westwood Drive across from the club site. He and his client said they believe sufficient parking has not been allotted for the club. A lack of on-site spaces will leave cars spilling onto Lonetti's property and also will increase traffic, Hayes said.

"The road system and the parking system was never designed for anything other than a professional office building," Hayes said. "It's just bad zoning and bad planning to put this type of development in this building."

Hayes said Lonetti's case has been hampered by the complex and controversial nature of the tavern license.

In addition to several lawsuits, all but two of the seven council members have been the target of ethics complaints related to the approval last year of the tavern license. The city's ethics board ruled in February that Mayor Oscar Goodman and council members Lynette Boggs McDonald, Larry Brown and Michael Mack did not violate ethics laws with their votes to grant Rogich the license.

The board also ruled last year that Councilman Michael McDonald, who abstained, violated ethics laws when he worked behind the scenes to block Rogich's tavern license.

"My client suffers from all of the baggage this case has," Hayes said.