NC Supreme Court rules for neighbors

[ccharles000]

Plans to build a $2.7 million topless club in a fast-growing corridor of northwest Raleigh took a hit today when the N.C. Supreme Court ruled that neighboring businesses have the right to oppose a city permit for the club on the grounds it would hurt them financially.

The decision is the latest in a three-year battle between the club's partners and neighboring businesses to the property on Mount Herman Road near Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Dan Kane reports.

The club would be called The Runway, and could seat as many as 560 people. It would be the city's first topless club in 16 years.

The Raleigh Board of Adjustment is required to approve a special use permit for such businesses. Phong Nguyen, a Raleigh doctor who practices in Virginia, and his partners won the permit in 2005. But then two neighboring businesses and a third nearby convinced a state Superior Court judge to throw out the permit.

The businesses said the topless club would cause economic hardship and reduced property values through increased traffic and an unsavory clientele.

The Christian group Called2Action has also sought to prevent the club's construction.

The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the businesses — Triangle Equipment Co., Triangle Coatings and the Angus Barn Restaurant — did not have standing to challenge the permit. The high court reversed the appellate court decision. Supreme Court Associate Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson dissented from the opinion.

Nguyen has since sold out his interest in the club to David "Slim" Baucom, a Charlotte-area businessman who owns adult establishments in North Carolina and the Southeast.

http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/supreme_court_rules_for_neighbors

[Tunkamerica]

1. so i'm unsavory? good to know

[ccharles000]

2. ...

:hug:

[MadHound]

3. Frankly I think that this is a good thing

I've watched as several business neighborhoods have gone downhill since a strip club came on the scene. Now what was once a district that contained health food stores, flea markets, a neighborhood pub and such have been turned into vacant buildings, the strip club, the pub(whose clientel has radically changed for the worse) and a hot spot for violence, drugs, hookers and other such crime.

I don't think that you should ban strip clubs, but they shouldn't be allowed to establish a business anywhere they want. Whether people want to believe it or not, the fact of the matter is that strip clubs come with some serious baggage, and they need to be considerate of their business neighbors. If this means that they have to locate somewhere out of the way, so be it. After all, location isn't as big a factor with clubs, their patrons will find them no matter where they are.

[Fumesucker]

5. So any business that causes a decline in other businesses should be disallowed?

Or is it only *certain* *kinds* of businesses that should not be allowed?

I happened to work for a while in a business that was peripherally effected by strip clubs, the strippers routinely told me that when the Southern Baptist Convention came to town and when the state legislature was in session business boomed.

Jews don't recognize Jesus the Christ as the Son of God.

Protestants don't recognize the Pope in Rome as their spiritual leader.

Southern Baptists don't recognize each other in the strip club.

[Parche]

4. hey

:hug:

this club went tits up before even opening

[11 Bravo]

6. Rim shot!

:fistbump: