On Tuesday, the Ames City Council will try to pass a maneuver used by cities all over the country to keep gentleman’s clubs to a minimum.

According to the office of the city clerk, the council will hold a public hearing on a zoning ordinance text amendment to establish provisions for “adult cabarets” in certain zoning districts.

The cabaret in question is the location of bikini bar Dangerous Curves at 122 Welch Ave., and the amendment states that patrons have to remain at least 10 feet away from the dancers.

City Councilman Matthew Goodman said the ordinance is trying to give the Ames City Council more control over such establishments.

“It’s an effort to try to not have the businesses end up on Welch Avenue,” he said.

The first hearing on this proposal will be open for public debate, and if passed, will require two more readings without input from the public.

Goodman said he is torn between protecting free markets in Ames and the university’s presence in Campustown.

“It puts the council in a strange position,” Goodman said. “You want your business community to have freedom. This ordinance is a blow to that concept.”

Using zoning ordinances to fend off strip clubs and bikini bars is being tried all over the country, most notably in one of the most liberal cities in the country, Seattle.

For 17 years, Seattle’s mayor Greg Nickels proposed a moratorium on strip clubs in the city. The clubs sued the city, and the court said the moratorium wasn’t legitimate. Nickels came up with a zoning ordinance, saying strip clubs must have bright lighting, no direct tips – and four feet between patrons and dancers. The ordinance narrowly passed in October, but is currently being challenged with a petition from bar owners, dancers and patrons.

Seattle City Councilman Richard McIver sponsored the bill. McIver said public hearings were held and more than 100 dancers testified.

McIver said the city’s goal is much the same as Ames’ goal.

“What we are trying to do is protect neighborhood businesses and residential areas,” he said.

In a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article dated Nov. 7, Gil Levy, an attorney for one of the nightclubs challenging the ordinance, said strip clubs are no more detrimental than bars that serve alcohol. Levy also said ordinances such as these don’t belong in progressive cities.

“These new rules are out of step with our city,” he said. “Seattle is a progressive community that allows for a diversity of nightlife.”

McIver said the three provisions have gone under a lot of scrutiny to make sure they cannot be legally challenged.

“All three requirements have been court tested and have withstood challenges,” he said.

Goodman said this issue should have surfaced in Ames a long time ago, preventing the other location of the bar at 111 5th St. – in close proximity to the public library and Adams Funeral Home, 502 Douglas Ave.

Goodman said he can’t predict what the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting will be, and even he doesn’t know which way to vote.

“Oftentimes I think I will know what will happen, but this time I can’t [predict],” he said. “I don’t know that the marketing use with regards to recruiting students of Welch Avenue is very compatible with the presence of a bikini bar. But I haven’t decided yet.”

City Councilman Steve Goodhue said the ordinance may not affect Dangerous Curves because it is an already existing business that has been granted a liquor license.

“It’s possible Dangerous Curves could be grandfathered because they’re already in business,” Goodhue said. “This is somewhat of a reactive ordinance to the Dangerous Curves issue.”

He said the ordinance doesn’t aim to rid Campustown of adult entertainment.

“This is to limit that sort of activity in Ames,” he said. “This won’t guarantee an absence of adult entertainment.”

Allan Slater, co-owner of Dangerous Curves and resident of Spirit Lake, said he hadn’t heard of the proposed ordinance.