Henderson City Council to hear teen club ordinance

Mona Shield Payne / Home News File

Chris Lewis dances into the night with Maci Ficklin at teen nightclub froZEN75 last spring. A new ordinance that would allow teenage dance halls and nightclubs in Henderson, but strictly regulate how and where they can operate, is scheduled to be considered Jan. 20 by the City Council.

By Jeremy Twitchell (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 | 6:22 p.m.

A new ordinance that would allow teenage dance halls and nightclubs in Henderson, but strictly regulate how and where they can operate, is scheduled to be considered Jan. 20 by the City Council.

The proposed measure comes nearly 10 months on the heels of a ban against the clubs that the council passed 4-1.

As it turns out, the ban was of questionable legality and was never enforced, city officials said. The city attorney's office has determined that, while courts have upheld the right of cities to ban dance halls, they have not upheld the right to ban nightclubs, because the live music played in them is a protected form of speech.

Rather than try to separate the two, city attorneys have suggested that it would be easier to allow them both, but regulate them through zoning restrictions.

As approved by the Planning Commission in November, the new ordinance would allow the clubs but require them to be at least 2,000 feet from one another and 1,000 feet from any residence, school, park, library, liquor store, tavern or smoke shop. It would also limit their hours of operation, and the city is developing licensing requirements for the club that include background checks of the owners.

Councilman Jack Clark, who was the strongest voice in support of the ban, said he supports the new ordinance.

"I think it's acceptable," Clark said. "I think it gives us enough restrictions to make sure (the clubs) are safe, and that's been my concern all along."

The potential for courts to strike the ban down was only part of the reason the ordinance was reworked, however. Following the adoption of the ban in April, a Henderson resident filed a complaint with the Nevada Attorney General's Office, alleging that the city had failed to have supporting materials for the ordinance on hand at the meeting and that the city had not adequately informed the public about the ordinance that was being considered.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto agreed with the resident and, in response, Henderson agreed to not enforce the ordinance.

"(The resident) had valid points," said Edie Cartwright, spokeswoman for the attorney general. "We looked into them, and they have been satisfied to our satisfaction."

Jeremy Twitchell can be reached at 990-8928 or jeremy.twitchell@hbcpub.com.