Thinking of opening up a shop whose most common denomination in patrons’ pockets is one-dollar bills? How about looking to serve the area with ink as the latest tattoo artist in town? Well, for each, don’t think about opening up shop in town central.
The Mayor and Council heard the first reading of an ordinance to establish a zone for adult entertainment in the Borough at a meeting June 19. Borough attorney Peter Melchionne, at the request of Mayor James Cassella, worked with the borough planner to choose a specific zone for tattoo parlors, strip clubs, massage parlors and adult book and video stores.
The area of town chosen consists of about 10 lots along the intersection of East Union Avenue and Murray Hill Parkway from Berry’s Creek to the railroad tracks. Melchionne said the purpose of having such an ordinance is to prevent adult entertainment from cropping up in any other part of town. Without having an ordinance specifically indicating a zone for such establishments, the borough would be unable to prevent an applicant from setting up shop on Park Avenue or in any other commercial area.
"I don’t want these things popping up in the middle of town," said Cassella.
Cassella said he hasn’t heard any rumors of an actual adult entertainment store attempting to set up in town. He said he merely wanted to get an ordinance on the books so the borough would be prepared if such a situation ever arose.
Councilman Ed Ravettine agreed. "By designating an area, we’re protecting our residents and our downtown," he said.
Ravettine said the Xanadu project and liquor licenses that will come with it could upset the balance in town and perhaps lead bar owners to consider changing the way they do business. This new ordinance would prevent a bar in the middle of town from attempting to recreate itself as a go-go bar or a strip club.
Guy Madsen of Clifton, the owner of the property on Park Avenue that formerly housed the Park City Bar, mentioned two months ago he received an offer from someone who wanted to turn the property into a go-go bar. Though he turned down the offer and is currently negotiating to sell the property to the borough for use as a municipal parking lot, the proposal Madsen received is exactly what the mayor and council is trying to relegate. Had Madsen accepted the offer, the borough would have had no firm grounds upon which to deny the use.
John Reece, the manager of the Stiletto, an adult entertainment club in Carlstadt, said the establishment has had "extensive battles" with the town.
"They were trying to make [the club] so hard to run that we would go out of business… the places these days are run so efficiently and so cleanly there are usually no problems," he said.
Reece said many adult entertainment clubs and bars are very respectable, well-run businesses but Hollywood stereotypes of greasy men in silk suits wearing gold chains and counting rolls of twenty-dollar bills still dominate the public’s imagination.
Though the ordinance passed its first reading, it must be adopted by the planning board and submitted to the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) because the area of town in question lies within the NJMC’s zoning jurisdiction.
Cassella said he hopes the NJMC will cooperate with the borough in determining an area for zoning adult entertainment. "[The NJMC] indicated to me in the past they would work with the municipality in establishing such an area," he said.
To comment on this article, go to www.mycommunity.com.
