Green Bay, Wisconsin- [Green Bay Press Gazetta]- Danz Video Inc. is not going away without a fight, owner Todd Conrad says.

The Green Bay City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to deny an adult entertainment license for the business at 946 Velp Ave.

“It’s not going to make us go away,” Conrad said after Tuesday’s meeting. “Our business can still be there.”

He plans to appeal to circuit court if necessary, but even if the ruling goes against him, he’ll continue to sell sexy lingerie and other items that aren’t governed by that entertainment license, he said.

The business held the license to allow the sale of adult-oriented movies, but the council decided the business’s addition of sex-oriented toys was an expansion of the business that was in violation of the store’s nonconforming use permit. It was reapplying for a license because the business is being transferred to Conrad from previous owner Dan Walls.

Current zoning does not permit an adult entertainment establishment to operate there, but Danz Video was in business before the zoning went into effect, so it is allowed to operate as a nonconforming use. But under city ordinance, any expansion of the business, either through the physical expansion of the building or increasing the floor space used to display adult entertainment videos and other products would be considered an intensifying use, which would override the business’s nonconforming use privileges, according to the city’s legal counsel.

But Danz Video’s lawyer, John D’Angelo, said the store did not intensify the licensed portion of its business. It began dealing in lingerie, costumes and other items that are sold in mainstream stores that don’t require adult entertainment licenses, D’Angelo said.

“This is really just an issue of taste,” he said.

The council heard from neighbor Jean Luecht, 718 Harrison St., who complained that what used to be a family video store had become a business that was embarrassing even to walk past.

“Anybody walking by can see into it, and of course they leave their lights on at night,” she said.

Alderwoman Celestine Jeffreys, whose district includes the store and who led the charge against issuing the license, was undaunted by Conrad’s promise to remain open. The business likely eventually will come down when Velp Avenue is widened in the next few years, she said.