Last Updated: 10/05/08
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On April 25, 2006 the City Commission of Grand Rapids passed an ordinance that regulates how strip clubs may operate. The ordinance prohibits nudity and only allows dancers to perform semi-nude. Semi-nudity is defined as wearing bottoms which cover the genitals and anus, and pasties that cover nipples and aureolas. The ordinance requires that dancers, while they are semi-nude, remain at least 6′ from patrons and on a fixed stage at least 18" high. The ordinance prohibits a dancer from touching a patron or a patron’s clothing. This prohibition on touching appears to apply at all times, even when the dancer is not semi-nude. In order to not be semi-nude under this ordinance a dancer’s breasts and buttocks must be covered, although showing cleavage is ok. Think bikinis. The ordinance prohibits clubs from being open after 2AM.

While fighting the ordinance in court the city's clubs have elected to avoid the ordinance by becoming bikini dance clubs. By putting their dancers in bikinis full time the clubs are no longer "sexually oriented business" under the terms of the ordinance and they avoid the provisions of the ordinance. This means that the backers of the ordinance have succeeded in eliminating all of the topless and nude dance clubs in the city.

As of this writing, all of the clubs' legal challenges have failed and the ordinance stands as written. As far as I know, no further legal action is planned.

An intertesting sidelight in all of this has been the private funding of a legal defense fund for the City. This ordinance was originally suggested by Judy Rose of Black Hills Citizens for a Better Community who was offended that a strip club was opening near her neighborhood. The Mayor of Grand Rapids said that he would not support an ordinance unless sufficient funds were available to pay for the legal battle that would ensue. This requirement for a defense fund was likely motivated by the $125,000 in legal costs incurred by the City when it lost a zoning variance case against Executive Arts Studio, i.e. Velvet Touch, which ran from 2000 until 2004. (It is interesting to note that the exact same legal teams, on both sides, worked on that case.) In response, Ms. Rose promised to raise $100,000 to fund the litigation. Joining with Dar Vander Ark and his Michigan Decency Action Council she later announced that they had received pledges of up to $100,000. The ordinance was then enacted.

Chronology
Key dates, events and documents

The documents related to this case are filed in the US District Court’s Case Management/Electronic Document Filing system. The CM/ECF system can be accessed on the internet via PACER, Public Access to Court Electronic Records. You must register with PACER and there is a fee of 8¢ per page for each search you perform and each court document you read. After you have registered you can find this case in the Western Distict of Michigan’s CM/ECF system. The case number to use in queries to find this case is 1-06-cv-300. The case number for Red Barn's and Sensation's appeals is 06-2168 in the Court of Appeals ECF system.

The Legal Teams