Seattle lifts strip-club moratorium

After 18 years of moratoriums on new strip clubs in Seattle, the City Council on Monday passed a new set of zoning rules that will allow strip clubs to open, so long as they're several hundred feet from other adult businesses and schools.

Since 1988, the council had been renewing an annual moratorium that banned new strip clubs. In 2005, a federal court struck down the moratorium as unconstitutional.

The new rules, which passed by a unanimous vote, require strip clubs to be at least 800 feet from elementary or secondary schools, child-care centers, community centers, public parks or open space where children tend to congregate. A new strip club also has to be at least 600 feet from other adult cabarets, adult-video stores or adult theaters.

"It ends 20 years of indecision over what has been a difficult land-use issue with a long history," said Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, who chairs the urban-planning committee. "The city is better off and neighborhoods better served by having modest restrictions on nightclubs."

He does not expect many clubs to open in response to the new rules because the clubs cannot serve liquor, which will limit profits for the club owners.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com