Strip club wants out of county

Adrienne Packer

Friday, Nov. 29, 2002 | 10:54 a.m.

The owner of Jaguars strip club might have figured out a way to skirt Clark County's stringent lap-dancing regulations: move the Las Vegas city limits to lasso his club.

Owner Michael Gilardi wants government officials to redraw city-county boundaries Jaguars so that his topless club will no longer be in an unincorporated area of the county. The 25,000-square-foot club is on Procyon Way at Desert Inn Road and Desert Inn serves as the city-county border at that intersection.

County commissioners are to consider Gilardi's annexation application at their Dec. 18 meeting. A preliminary report written by county planners recommends denial of the application, noting that the annexation would contradict the county code.

The code says annexations are executed to eliminate "county islands" within the city or if it's more logical for the city to provide services such as water and sewer. The planning staff said Jaguars' request does not fulfill those conditions.

If commissioners approve the proposal, the Las Vegas City Council will consider the annexation, and Gilardi already has the support of Mayor Oscar Goodman. In an Oct. 28 letter to Clark County Commission chairman Dario Herrera, Goodman urged the county to work with Jaguars and the city.

"I have been told that many of the activities that Jaguars wishes that its dancers and patrons could engage in are not permitted under the Clark County code," Goodman wrote. "These activities, however, are permitted under the Las Vegas city code.

"I'm writing to see if the Clark County commission would be willing to participate in a cooperative enterprise between the owners of Jaguars and the city of Las Vegas."

Neither Gilardi nor Mike Beezley, administrator of Gilardi's company, could be reached for comment.

Beezley first expressed interest in being annexed into the city in September, shortly after the county tightened restrictions on strippers, but Beezley's Sept. 20 letter to the county does not mention the ordinance. It says Gilardi wants both of his topless clubs, Jaguars and Cheetah's, in the same jurisdiction.

"Due to the fact the property owner already has an existing gentlemen's club in the city, he would prefer to have both businesses within city limits," Beezley wrote.

Many county strip club owners and strippers objected to the lap dancing restrictions that the county adopted in July. Strippers make the majority of their money from lap dances, gyrating and rubbing up against seated customers.

Goodman not only scoffed at the controversial lap dancing law county commissioners adopted in July, he also invited owners of strip clubs to move their businesses into the city.

Earlier this month commissioners dropped a chapter of the ordinance that had prohibited customers from placing money into the G-strings of strippers. Left in place was a rule that strippers cannot come in contact with a customer's feet, and one that prohibits dancers under 21 from performing in clubs that serve alcohol.

The law also prohibits a dancer's genitals or breasts from touching a customer's genitals.

The ordinance, written in an effort to do away with acts that lead to prostitution, requires a centralized monitor station that allows Metro police or business inspectors to immediately view what is happening in private rooms. Jaguars' upper floor is lined with private rooms.

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, who sponsored the county ordinance, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Whether ducking into city limits will enable Jaguars to operate under a more liberal watchdog depends on what city council members decide Jan. 2 when they are to vote on more stringent lap dancing laws of their own.

The city also might require dancers to obtain licenses at $150 a piece. The license would help regulate dancers, forcing them to comply with laws that prohibit strippers and patrons from touching genitals. The city ordinance makes no mention of feet.

City officials are also proposing that topless clubs make private rooms "camera-ready," said Jim Difiore, the city's business services manager.