Scotsdale, Arizona- Changes are coming for a Scottsdale ordinance that bans strippers from performing offstage, but city officials are waiting to disclose their ideas.

The ordinance hasn’t been enforced in at least two years because of concerns about its legality.

Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down sections of Maricopa County’s strip club ordinance in a lawsuit brought by Dream Palace, an all-nude club just south of Scottsdale. That ruling likely invalidated some of the city’s regulations.

Any changes to the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance would be designed to ensure they do not violate the First Amendment, since strippers’ performances have been declared a form of free speech, Councilman Jim Lane said.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on the changes Nov. 15. To date, the council has only discussed the revisions in a closed meeting.

Mary Grace, an assistant city attorney, declined comment on Friday and referred all questions on the ordinance to Pat Dodds, a Scottsdale spokesman. Dodds said the city has hired Scott Bergthold, a Tennessee lawyer and expert on strip club regulations, to help craft the revisions.

Bergthold could not be reached for comment Friday.

The city’s two strip clubs have come under scrutiny from police, politicians and neighborhood activists after it became known over the summer that adult film mogul Jenna Jameson purchased a share of Babe’s Cabaret.

Skin Cabaret is Scottsdale’s only other topless bar. Both are on Scottsdale Road near its southern border with Tempe.

City officials – including Mayor Mary Manross and Councilmen Wayne Ecton and Bob Littlefield – have directed City Manager Jan Dolan and Scottsdale’s legal office to explore ways to shut down Babe’s.

Jameson officially purchased Babe’s last month with several business partners also from the adult film industry.

Scottsdale police and prosecutors began ignoring violations of the ordinance starting in August 2003 amid concerns that its regulations might be unconstitutional.

When regulating strip clubs, governments must walk a fine line not to bar protected speech, said Lawrence Walters, a Florida lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues.

Regulations that prohibit a stripper from performing offstage, as Scottsdale’s does, can be enforceable, Walters said.

“Some courts have upheld them and other courts have struck them down,” he said.

“The real question,” he added, “is what interference do those restrictions cause on the erotic message to be conveyed by the dancer?”