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Westbrook, Maine, Ban on Nude Dancing Advances

September 22, 2010 - WESTBROOK -- Proposed limits on nude dancing and strip clubs have been sent to a Westbrook City Council committee for possible action next month.

The council held an early-morning session to take up the proposal, which it sent to the Committee of the Whole, made up of all seven councilors. That committee is expected to meet next month, at which time it could make a recommendation for the council.

Westbrook's ordinance is a reaction to a fully nude dance club, Dreamers, which opened on Warren Avenue last week. City officials said they were not aware that the club's owner, The Ferrante Group, planned to offer nude dancing.

Dreamers did not require a business license from Westbrook because the club did not serve food or alcohol.

The club was shut down over the weekend after the city's fire inspector cited it for alleged code violations related to sprinklers, fire alarms and state construction permits.

The ordinance sent to the committee would ban fully nude dancing and require a permit from Westbrook's code enforcement officer for a strip club. It would also prohibit strip clubs from setting up within 500 feet of schools, playground, parks, churches and libraries.

Dreamers, which is in Westbrook's industrial zone, meets that requirement.

The lawyer for The Ferrante Group said this week that he believes Dreamers would be grandfathered and exempt from any rules adopted after it opened.

by Edward D. Murphy, Portland Press Herald, September 22, 2010

Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


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