Vol. 2, No. 6
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Jan. 15, 2005
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE |
COPYWRITING
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Las Vegas Municipal Code Ordnance On "Erotic Dance Establishments"
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Chapter 6.35 EROTIC DANCE ESTABLISHMENTS
6.35.010 Findings.
6.35.020 Purpose.
6.35.030 Definitions.
6.35.040 Prima facie evidence of erotic dance establishment.
6.35.050 Certain activities prohibited.
6.35.060 Erotic dance establishment license--Application.
6.35.070 License issuance or denial.
6.35.080 Work card.
6.35.090 Work card application and issuance.
6.35.100 Erotic dance establishment regulations.
6.35.110 Inspections.
6.35.120 License fee and reports.
6.35.130 Security guard identification cards.
6.35.140 Revocation or suspension of license or permit.
6.35.150 Exemptions.
6.35.160 Responsibility of licensee.
6.35.170 Violation--Penalty.
6.35.010 Findings.
The Las Vegas City Council finds that:
(A) Erotic dance establishments, if unregulated, will likely lead to an increase in prostitution, venereal disease, drug and alcohol offenses, fraud and other criminal activity;
(B) Erotic dance establishments sometimes are fronts for or operated by persons associated with organized criminal activities, and the need to scrutinize such dance studios is thereby enhanced;
(C) The law enforcement resources available for responding to problems associated with or created by erotic dance establishments are limited and are best conserved by regulating and licensing erotic dance establishments and those associated with them; and (D) The public health, safety and welfare require that erotic dance establishments and their employees be regulated and licensed in order to reduce the potential for harm.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.020 Purpose.
The purpose of this Chapter is to regulate erotic dance establishments to the end that the many types of criminal activities frequently engendered by such establishments will be curtailed. However, it is recognized that such regulation cannot de facto approach prohibition. Otherwise a protected form of expression would vanish. This Chapter represents a balancing of competing interests: reduced criminal activity through the regulation of erotic dance establishments versus the protected rights of erotic dancers and patrons.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.030 Definitions.
In this Chapter the following definitions and those in Title 6 shall apply unless the context clearly requires otherwise;
(A) "Council" means the Las Vegas City Council.
(B) "Dancer" means a person who dances, models, personally solicits drinks or otherwise performs for an erotic dance establishment and who seeks to arouse or excite the patrons' sexual desires.
(C) "Department" means the Department of Finance and Business Services.
(D) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Finance and Business Services.
(E) "Erotic dance establishment" means a fixed place of business which emphasizes and seeks, through one or more dancers, to arouse or excite the patrons' sexual desires. Erotic dance establishments are deemed to be places of public accommodation.
(F) "Security guard" means a person who acts as a doorman or bouncer or who performs a function described in NRS 648.016.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.040 Prima facie evidence of erotic dance establishment.
It shall be prima facie evidence that a business is an erotic dance establishment when one or more dancers displays or exposes, with less than a full opaque covering, that portion of the female breast lower than the upper edge of the areola, or entices or persuades a patron to purchase a beverage sold in the establishment.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.050 Certain activities prohibited.
(A) No person, firm, partnership, corporation or other entity shall publicly display or expose or suffer the public display or exposure, with less than a full opaque covering, of any portion of a person's genitals, pubic area or buttocks in a lewd and obscene fashion.
(B) It is unlawful for any person or agent or employee thereof to claim, represent or imply that any beverage which contains less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume is liquor, beer, wine, spirits, gin, whisky, champagne, cordials, ethyl alcohol, rum or any form thereof and sell same to the person to whom the claim, representation or implication was made. Any beverage sold in an erotic dance establishment which does not have a liquor license shall be delivered to the patron in the container with the alcoholic content, if any, clearly imprinted on the label in letters not less than three-sixteenths inch high.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.060 Erotic dance establishment license--Application.
(A) Application for an erotic dance establishment license shall be made to the Director.
(B) An application for an erotic dance establishment license shall be verified by the applicant and shall contain or set forth the following information:
(1) The name, address, telephone number, principal occupation and age of the applicant;
(2) The name, address and principal occupation of the managing agent or agents of the business;
(3) The business name, business address and business telephone number of the establishment or proposed establishment, together with a description of the nature of the business and magnitude thereof;
(4) Whether the business or proposed business is the undertaking of a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation. If a sole proprietorship, the application shall set forth the name, address, telephone number and principal occupation of the sole proprietor. If a partnership, the application shall set forth the names, addresses, telephone numbers, principal occupations and respective ownership shares of each partner, whether general, limited or silent. If a corporation, the application shall set forth the corporate name, a copy of the articles of incorporation, and the names, addresses, telephone numbers and principal occupations of every officer, director and shareholder (having more than ten percent of the outstanding shares) and the number of shares held by each;
(5) The names, addresses, telephone numbers and principal occupations of every person, partnership or corporation having any interest in the real or personal property utilized or to be utilized by the business or proposed business;
(6) A description of all other business enterprises (sales or services) which shall occur on the premises;
(7) Whether the applicant, anyone having a ten-percent interest in the business or proposed business, or anyone having an interest in the real property or personal property utilized or to be utilized by the business or proposed business or anyone having a right to ten percent of the proceeds of the business other than utilities has:
(a) Ever been convicted of or forfeited bail for any crime, excluding minor traffic offenses and, if so, the application shall state the person involved, the charge, date, court, and disposition of the charges,
(b) Ever had a business license denied, revoked or charges filed therefor, and if so, the application shall state the person involved, the name of the business, date, jurisdiction, and outcome of any hearing,
(c) Ever owner, operated an escort service, an outcall promoter establishment, a brothel or adult nightclub theater, and if so, the name of the business, dates involved and position or interest therein.
(C) The applicants shall present themselves to the Metropolitan Police for investigation and fingerprinting and shall pay such investigation and fingerprint fee as is required by LVMC 6.86, and shall reveal to the Metropolitan Police such information as is required to properly identify the applicant to enable the investigation of the applicant's arrests and convictions, licensing and litigation record and verify the accuracy and completeness of the application.
(1) In all cases where the applicant for a license is a corporation, it shall be necessary for all of the principal officers of such corporation to present themselves for investigation and fingerprinting. All stockholders above ten percent or who exercise management of the corporation are required to present themselves for investigation and fingerprinting.
(D) Applications shall be accompanied by a nonrefundable fee of twenty-five dollars.
(E) An erotic dance establishment license shall be a semiannual license renewable by payment of semiannual license fees as found in LVMC 6.35.120(A).
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.070 License issuance or denial.
(A) The Director of the Department of Finance and Business Services shall issue or deny the license to the applicant within thirty days from receipt of a complete application and fees upon compliance with all the requirements of this Section and any applicable provisions of Title 6 of this Code. Failure of the Director to approve or deny the license application within the thirty days shall result in the license being granted.
(1) That upon the expiration of the thirty days the applicant may demand a license and begin operating the erotic dance establishment for which a license is sought, unless and until the Director notifies the applicant of a denial of the license application and states the reason for the denial. (This provision shall not create a reliance or estoppel situation as to this license or any other provisions of this code.)
(B) The Director shall consider the application by examination of:
(1) The information provided within the submitted application;
(2) The circumstances of the applicant's criminal reputation, association and business history;
(3) The proposed business operation of the applicant;
(4) The reports of zoning, building, fire and health department as applicable.
(C) The Director shall not grant the license if:
(1) The applicant, whether an individual or any of the stockholders, officers or directors, if a corporation or any of the partners, if a partnership, including limited partners, or the manager or other person principally in charge of the operation of the business, or any person receiving, or having a right to receive any sum from, or percentage of the profits due to an interest in or sale of the business, has been convicted within a five-year period immediately prior to the date of the application of any crimes of embezzlement; or any crime involving fraud, consumer fraud or intent to defraud, prostitution, solicitation of prostitution; or has violated the law regarding fraudulent advertising;
(2) The operation as proposed by the applicant would not comply with all applicable laws, including, but not limited to, this Title and the City's building, zoning, fire and health regulations;
(3) The applicant or any ten-percent corporation shareholder or a corporate officer has had a revocation of a business license for violations of code regulations pursuant to LVMC 6.06A (Adult Bookstores), 606B (Adult Nightclub Establishments), 6.36 (Escort Bureau and Personnel), 6.57 (Outcall Entertainment), 19.74 (Sexually Oriented Businesses) and this Chapter, within the preceding two years.
(D) If the applicant is denied, the Director shall notify the applicant with the reason(s) stated for denial. Notification shall be sent certified, United states mail, return receipt requested, to the address provided on the license application which shall be considered the correct address. Each applicant has the burden to furnish any change of address to the director of business license, by United States certified mail, return receipt requested.
(E) In the event that an application is denied, the applicant may file or cause to be filed in the district court a petition for judicial examination of the validity of the denial of the erotic dance establishment license as provided by Chapter 34 of NRS. (Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.080 Work card.
No person shall work at an erotic dance establishment without a valid work card.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.090 Work card application and issuance.
(A) Each license and any dancer, bar personnel, waiters/waitresses or managers, whether a full- or part-time employee or independent contractor, who works or renders services in a licensed erotic dance establishment business or facility shall obtain prior to the issuance of the license or the commencement of work and keep in force during the term of his license or employment, a work identification card for erotic dance establishment issued under LVMC 6.86 and 6.35. The investigation for issuance of a work identification card will include a fingerprint check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Work cards applied for pursuant to this Chapter shall be issued on the eleventh working day following application therefor unless denied within ten working days from application.
(1) Within twenty-four hours of the receipt of a work card application by a dancer, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shall issue a temporary work card, subject to completion of the investigation described herein, unless it is determined that the applicant is under eighteen years of age, or is currently wanted for criminal activity, or cannot establish identification.
(B) The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shall deny the issuance or renewal of a work identification card for this Chapter only if:
(1) The application is not complete or if the applicant has made false, misleading or fraudulent statements with respect to any material fact contained in the application for a work identification card;
(2) The applicant has committed any crimes involving fraud, consumer fraud or intent to defraud, prostitution, solicitation of prostitution, or has violated the law regarding fraudulent advertising within two years of application for this specific work card; or
(3) The applicant has violated code regulations, as set out within LVMC 6.35.100, or has had a business license revoked pursuant to this Title, or the issuance or renewal thereof has been denied by the City of Las Vegas or any other government entity within one year of the date of the application for any reason set out in this subsection.
(C) Suspension--Revocation. Any work identification card issued for this Chapter shall only be suspended or revoked for grounds set forth in Subsection (B) of this Section pursuant to the procedures set forth in LVMC 6.86.
(D) In the event that an applicant's work card is denied, suspended or revoked, the applicant may cause an appeal to be filed to the City Council, by filing a written appeal with the Director within ten days of notice of denial, suspension or revocation. A public hearing shall be held before the board held thereafter before the City Council pursuant to LVMC 6.86.150; or the applicant may file or cause to be filed in the district court a petition for judicial review of the denial, suspension or revocation pursuant to NRS 34 et seq.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.100 Erotic dance establishment regulations.
(A) No person, firm, partnership, corporation or other entity shall advertise, or cause to be advertised, as an erotic dance establishment without a valid erotic dance establishment license issued pursuant to this Chapter.
(B) No later than the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the semiannual license period, an erotic dance establishment licensee shall file a verified report with the Department showing the licensee's gross receipts and amounts paid to dancers for the preceding semiannual period.
(C) An erotic dance establishment licensee shall maintain and retain for a period of three years the names, addresses, a copy of each dancer's work card, new and renewal, and ages of all persons employed as dancers by the licensee.
(D) No erotic dance establishment licensee shall employ as a dancer a person under the age of eighteen years or a person is not licensed pursuant to this Chapter and LVMC 6.86.
(E) No person under the age of eighteen years shall be admitted to a nonalcoholic erotic dance establishment. No patron under the age of twenty-one shall be admitted to an alcoholic erotic dance establishment.
(F) No erotic dance establishment licensee shall serve, sell, distribute or suffer the consumption or possession of any intoxicating liquor, or any beverage represented as containing any alcohol upon the premises of the licensee without a valid liquor license.
(G) An erotic dance establishment licensee shall conspicuously display all licenses required by this Chapter.
(H) Dancing shall take place within an area which is visible immediately upon entrance to the establishment premises, is visible immediately from the entry room, is visible immediately from one fixed staffed security station, or is visible immediately from a service bar area of the establishment's premises; however, no erotic dancing shall be visible to the outside sidewalk or street areas. Dance areas must not be obscured by any curtain or door that restricts view from one of the above-described areas. Patrons will not be allowed to enter private rooms with dancers.
(I) No dancer shall fondle or caress any patron, and no patron shall fondle or caress any dancer.
(J) Any erotic dance establishment which does not have a liquor license issued by the Department and which uses the words that imply the availability of alcoholic liquor on the premises, such as "bar," "lounge" or "saloon," in any advertisement or place name must state in all such advertisements that alcoholic beverages are not sold or allowed on the premises.
(K) All erotic dance establishments licensed pursuant to this Chapter shall post on each entrance door and not more than five inches above each entrance door, and in at least three places behind the bar a sign with letters not less than three inches high stating:
"ALCOHOLIC LIQUOR IS NOT SOLD HERE"
"PROSTITUTION IS UNLAWFUL"
The letters must be black on a yellow background and the sign on each entrance door and behind the bar must be between four and six feet above floor level. Each sign must be located and illuminated sufficient to be visible by a person with normal eyesight corrected to 20/20, thirty feet from the sign.
(L) No erotic dance establishment shall employ a security guard, or allow a security guard to work on the premises, unless such security guard has obtained a work identification card pursuant to LVMC 6.86.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.110 Inspections.
All books and records required to be kept pursuant to this Chapter shall be open to inspection by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department or Department of Finance and Business Services during the hours when the erotic dance establishment is open for business. The purpose of such inspection shall be to determine whether the books and records meet the requirements of this Title.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.120 License fee and reports.
(A) The license fee for an erotic dance establishment shall be two hundred dollars to be paid on or before the fifteenth day succeeding the end of the semiannual license period.
(B) Every person licensed pursuant to this Chapter shall file with the Department on or before the fifteenth day succeeding the end of a semiannual period a report signed by the licensee under oath that the report is true to his/her own knowledge. The report shall provide any changes in information submitted pursuant to LVMC 6.35.060.
(1) Each report must be accompanied by the amount of license fee which is due for the next semiannual period.
(2) Any licensee who fails to fully pay the license fee imposed by this Chapter with the complete report as required herein, is subject to a penalty of five percent of the amount due. All licenses for which the fees have not been paid and/or complete reports received within thirty days after the due date automatically expire. Any such expired license shall not be reinstated until the penalty and a ten-percent reinstatement fee of the total amount due shall be paid and complete reports received.
(3) All reports required by this Chapter to be filed with the Director shall be sworn under oath by the manager or licensee of an erotic dance establishment license, that the information contained therein is true to his personal knowledge. A bookkeeper or accountant may file the report for a licensee if the licensee appoints the bookkeeper or accountant as his agent for such purpose through written notice filed with the report. The document submitted shall contain the following signature line and shall be sworn before an officer empowered to administer oaths:
Signed, position
SUBSCRIBED and SWORN to before me
this day of , 19 .
NOTARY PUBLIC in and for said
County and State
6.35.130 Security guard identification cards.
All security guards working in or employed by an erotic dance establishment must obtain a work identification card. Security guards in exotic dance studios shall not carry firearms, nightsticks, clubs or chemical or electronic weapons.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.140 Revocation or suspension of license or permit.
(A) The City Council shall not act to revoke or suspend an erotic dance establishment license until after:
(1) The licensee is given at least ten days' written notice of the specific charges;
(2) A hearing is held before the City Council at which time the licensee may present such evidence and defense as may bear upon the question.
(B) The erotic dance establishment license shall be revoked or suspended if the licensee maintains or conducts business in any building or structure which is structurally unsafe, or does not provide adequate egress, or which constitutes a fire hazard, or which is otherwise dangerous to human life or safety, or which in relation to existing use constitutes a hazard to safety or health, or public welfare by reasons of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation or obsolescence.
(C) The erotic dance establishment license shall be revoked or suspended if the licensee or his, her or its employee, agent or manager has made any false, misleading or fraudulent statement of material fact in the application for the license at issue or in any semi-annual report required to be filed with the Department (LVMC 6.35.120) or record required to be kept for three years (LVMC 6.35.120) or knowingly caused or suffered another to furnish such false, misleading or fraudulent information or withhold such required information on his, her or its behalf, or violates any provisions of LVMC 6.35.100.
(D) In the event the erotic dance establishment license is suspended or revoked, the license suspension or revocation shall be stayed for fourteen days from the date of the written notice to the licensee for the licensee to seek judicial review. If the licensee seeks judicial review in a timely manner, the license suspension or revocation shall be stayed until the court orders otherwise or issues a dispositive ruling. The licensee may waive the stay provision in writing, or the City may seek sooner to enforce the suspension or revocation by filing in the district court a petition for judicial review as provided by NRS 43.100 or by seeking alternative relief pursuant to Chapter 34 of NRS.
(Ord. 5228 § 4, 2000: Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.150 Exemptions.
Shows which are held in the showrooms of a hotel/casino containing over three hundred rooms which is subject to the casino entertainment tax defined in NRS 463.401, and dance presentations which are conducted in establishments licensed to sell liquor pursuant to LVMC 6.50, are exempt from the licensing regulations and fees of this Chapter. Establishments operating and approved for adult uses pursuant to LVMC 19.74 or that have been deemed a nonconforming use pursuant to LVMC 19.74.040 prior to the dates specified therein may continue to provide adult entertainment (dancers and strippers) and are exempt from LVMC 6.35.050(A), but must comply with all other applicable code provisions of LVMC 6.35.100(C), (D), (G), (H), (I), (J), and (M) and other applicable sections of the Las Vegas Municipal Code. Establishments which do not conform to the requirements of LVMC 6.35.100 shall be deemed a nonconforming use and shall have a period of one year to comply. Any alteration necessary to bring a nonconforming use into compliance with the provisions of this Chapter shall not require a variance if the business is a nonconforming use under LVMC 19.74.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.160 Responsibility of licensee.
The holder of an erotic dance establishment license is responsible for the acts of its employees and independent or subcontractors, including but not limited to attendants, servers, security guards, managers and dancers. An erotic dance establishment license may be revoked for acts of such agent, employee or subcontractor or independent contractor which violates any provision of this Chapter. It is the duty of the licensee to prevent fraud, prostitution and the solicitation of prostitution upon its licensed premises.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)
6.35.170 Violation--Penalty.
It is unlawful for any person or business entity to engage in business as an erotic dance establishment, manager, dancer or as attendant and/or server within the City of Las Vegas without first obtaining a license or permit therefor as provided in this Chapter. It is unlawful for a dancer to dance in a place or manner prohibited in this Chapter. Any person, firm or corporation violating this Section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and each such person, firm or corporation shall be deemed guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during which the violation is committed, continued or permitted, and upon conviction of such violation, such person, firm or corporation shall be punished by a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars for the first offense; not less than five hundred dollars for the second offense; not less than nine hundred fifty dollars for the third offense; and a fine of one thousand dollars plus not less than one week imprisonment for the fourth or additional offenses. In no case shall any sentence exceed more than a one thousand dollar fine and/or six months imprisonment; provided, no person shall be deemed guilty of any violation of this Chapter is acting in an investigative capacity pursuant to the request of the Metropolitan Police Department or director.
(Ord. 3916 § 2 (part), 1995)