Yakima / Yakima Valley Development News

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City planners give thumbs down to Yakima strip club proposal
BY CHRIS BRISTOL
THE YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

YAKIMA, Wash. - City planning officials Friday delivered a major setback to a proposed strip club in Yakima, saying the project meets many zoning criteria but isn’t compatible overall with neighboring businesses.

Compatibility "carries a lot of weight in land-use cases," said Randy Beehler, spokesman for the city of Yakima. "In the instance of an adult business, it carries a great deal of weight."

The city’s recommended denial of the Sinsations Gentleman’s Club application was widely expected and now shifts attention from the planning stage to a public hearing Friday before Hearings Examiner Gary Cuillier.

J.J. Sandlin, attorney for applicant Jamie Muffett, said he and his client understood from the beginning that the proposal would put a lot of political pressure on the Planning Department and therefore weren’t shocked by the decision.

"My comment to it is blah blah blah," he said of the planning report, adding "It’s totally bizarre but not surprising. It’s not surprising."

But opponents like Al and Susan Maza, who own the Color Tile property next to the proposed site at 2308 S. First St., were thrilled by the news on the eve of their plan to stage a protest next to the site today.

"We are not taking anything for granted," Al Maza said. "We are not going to let up, we are going to continue to persevere and let all the public know where this thing is going."

Muffett, a Zillah club owner, wants to open a "gentleman’s club" in Yakima in a vacant Pay-less carpet store near the Valley Mall.

In the report, city planners said Muffett’s application met almost all the zoning criteria under the city’s 2009 adult business ordinance. State law protects stripping as a form of free speech and precludes cities from zoning clubs and other forms of adult entertainment out of existence.

Although the proposed site is outside a prescribed 500-foot buffer from schools, day cares, parks and churches, planners warned "there is no question that there will be significant secondary negative effects" on adjacent businesses and property values.

A Jack-in-the-Box fast-food restaurant is almost directly across the street, and there are several other restaurants and "tourist-oriented" retail uses within 500 feet of the site, city officials noted.

As a result, planners said, anything less than a denial of the application "cannot be logically accommodated."

The proposed club has generated so much interest in both Yakima and Union Gap — reflected in part by several dueling sites on Facebook — that Yakima city officials split next Friday’s hearing at City Hall into two sessions — 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in anticipation of a big crowd.

Sandlin promised he and his client are going to be there and are ready to stand up for their rights in protest of prudishness.

"The Constitution is going to live in Yakima," Sandlin said, accusing city officials of "inviting a riot" by opening up the hearing to any and all regardless of limitations on compatibility complaints.

"Jamie has a lot of supporters, but he’s prepared to stand alone because of the fear of retaliation and ostracism against anyone who tries to stand with him," Sandlin said.