Palm Springs council delays action on new rules for sex businesses

The Palm Springs City Council discussed but did not vote Monday on proposed ordinance changes that would allow adult businesses in more of the city. However, a majority of the members voiced at least some support for opening up a few new areas to such establishments and updating the city code to remove what they said was confusing, outdated and potentially discriminatory language.

The wide-ranging and sexually explicit conversation was notable for its candid discussion of matters of anatomy and equality. Deputy City Manager Flinn Fagg prefaced the session by saying: "I just want to point out that this is one of those topics they don't prepare you for in urban planning school."

Fagg said it made sense to reconsider and update the city rules because social mores and the world of sex businesses have changed significantly since the current ordinance was adopted in 1995.

Under current city laws, sexually oriented businesses such as strip clubs and stores that sell pornography are allowed only on a few areas zoned for manufacturing and similar uses, including areas north of Interstate 10, adjacent to the Desert Highland Gateway Estates neighborhood, and around Palm Springs International Airport.

No such licensed business currently exists in the city. While there are several stores that sell sexually oriented merchandise, they do not need to be licensed as adult businesses because that merchandise only makes up a small percentage of the inventory.

The proposed ordinance discussed by the council would have opened up additional plots in the city to such businesses, including some areas north and south of downtown and on the far southeast side of the city. However, Fagg — who drafted the proposed ordinance — clarified Thursday that such businesses would still not be allowed to front major thoroughfares such as Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon Drives, significantly limiting the number of new parcels where such businesses could be located in practice.

"It would be 10 [parcels] at a maximum," said Fagg.

Fagg also said that while the draft ordinance presented to the council would've opened up retail areas north and south of downtown to such businesses, he had since determined that opening those areas would not make sense because nearly all of the available parcels in the proposed area front either Palm Canyon or Indian Canyon or are directly adjacent to a residential area.

During the meeting, councilmembers Christy Holstege, Geoff Kors, Grace Garner and Dennis Woods voiced support for allowing sexually oriented businesses along Sunny Dunes Road off of Palm Canyon Drive and in another small area south of Highway 111 around Linden Way.

Councilmembers rejected moving forward with proposed language that would have opened up an area along Garnet Road just south of Interstate 10 to such businesses because of its proximity to both the interstate and Indian Canyon Drive, one of the main gateways to enter Palm Springs.

Fagg said the city has received inquiries from potential proprietors of adult businesses looking to locate in portions of the city where they are currently not allowed. However, he also noted that there are vacant spaces where adult businesses could be located even under the current rules.

Following the discussion, Fagg said city staff would bring a revised ordinance for the council to consider and vote on at a future meeting.

Woods, Kors and Holstege voiced support for opening up a larger portion of the city to the businesses, with Woods suggesting that the council should have the discretion to review whether the businesses should be allowed in more areas on a case-by-case basis.

Mayor Lisa Middleton, though, expressed strong skepticism about both the wisdom of opening any new areas to such businesses and the need to revisit the existing rules.

"I do not want to mislead anyone. It is very unlikely that I will vote in favor of this ordinance when it comes back," she said. "I think we are going too far, too fast."

Discussion may resume after new councilmembers are seated

The fate of any ordinance changes could be left to a new council. Woods, who represents District 2, and Kors, who represents District 3, did not seek re-election in the Nov. 8 election, and are slated to be replaced by Jeffrey Bernstein and Ron deHarte, respectively. Meanwhile, Holstege could be moving on to the California Assembly, although her contest against Republican Greg Wallis in the 47th District remains too close to call.

There was more agreement about another change contained in the proposed ordinance that would replace language in the city's existing laws requiring adult businesses to be located 650 feet from residential areas with a statement that sex businesses could not be located "adjacent" to residential areas. All five members said they would support that change. Other parts of the proposed ordinance, such as a loosening of existing city rules reducing the number of hours sexually oriented businesses must be closed each night, were not discussed by the council.

No action on nudity rules, but full repeal lacks support

The council also did not take action on a second proposed ordinance that would have repealed existing city rules prohibiting "nudity" in public spaces, including at businesses. State laws currently ban public nudity only when the nudity is in a sexual context or for a sexual purpose while current city law disallows nudity more broadly. Several councilmembers expressed support for revisiting the nudity ordinance, which they said they felt was inconsistent and allowed men, but not women, to expose their bare chests.

However, Palm Springs Police Chief Andrew Mills said doing away with the city's ordinance entirely would mean the police would be limited in their ability to respond to certain situations, such as people who were nude in their cars outside schools, which he said is a situation police have responded to in the past.

That discussion concluded with Fagg saying he would work to bring back a new draft ordinance that was more permissive than existing rules while not creating challenges for the police.

"What we will do is we will make modifications, we will consult with the police chief as well as reviewing other ordinances from local communities as well," he said. "And we'll come back with some modifications to our existing ordinance and give you that language to look at."

Fagg did not say when the new ordinances will be brought to the council to consider.

Council criticizes 'outdated' language

Holstege and Kors initially asked for the council to revisit the ordinances governing sexually oriented businesses because they felt they were out of date, too limiting and often discriminatory. Kors recently told The Desert Sun he felt adult businesses should be regulated similarly to cannabis dispensaries, which have proliferated in Palm Springs.

Much of the conversation focused on the need to update and clarify much of the language used in the existing city rules, which several councilmembers criticized as both unclear and often sexist.

At one point, Kors asked Fagg about language in existing rules that states that the top of a woman's breast can be visible in public but not the bottom half.

"It's always struck me that were some discriminatory differences between men and women here that we might want to discuss," he said. "So, I wanted to raise that because I am concerned about it."

Kors also drew attention to the use of terms like "human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state," which the current ordinance disallows. He said city regulations should use plain English terms such as "erect penis," if such rules are maintained going forward.

Holstege, meanwhile, said she was concerned about terms such as "sodomy" in the existing ordinance.

"This whole defining portion is very outdated," she said. "The language that it uses — it uses sodomy, which I think is sort of a word that has judgment in it."

Holstege said some of the language currently on the books was an artifact of efforts to curtail Spring Break partying decades ago.

"I think a lot of our rules on the books are absurd in context of what actually happens at any given show in Palm Springs on any given night," she said. "If you've attended Splash House, which I have, I've seen many a thong on all different genders. And that's just happening ... society has sort of updated where we were since the '90s."

Fagg expressed agreement that the language used in both the current and proposed ordinances was difficult to understand and said the city would modify the language to make it more understandable before bringing it back to the council.

Later in the discussion, Middleton questioned why rules prohibiting the sale of material depicting pederasty and pedophilia were removed in the draft ordinance. In response, Fagg said those should remain banned.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs council voices support for limited sex business rule changes