EAST HARTFORD, Connecticut – As a second civil rights lawsuit was filed by a company trying to bring a strip club into town, the Planning and Zoning Commission scheduled a special public hearing Jan. 23 to propose modifying its adult-oriented business regulations.

Town Planner Michael Dayton said Thursday the commission is considering an eight-month moratorium on bringing in new adult businesses into town to allow local officials to review the town regulations.

Also, commission members will weigh deleting and reducing some current regulations concerning adult businesses, he said. While Dayton said he couldn’t talk directly about either lawsuit, the proposals seem to be a clear reaction to them.

In October, Masters Club LLC filed suit in New Haven’s U.S. District Court against the town, Mayor Melody A. Currey, and just about every town official related to the PZC. The company purchased the shuttered Elks Club lodge, at 148 Roberts St., and the neighboring 144 Roberts St. for more than $1.3 million.

Business filings with the secretary of the state’s office show Masters Club’s president is Mark Chu, and the company is based in Wethersfield.

Last week, another company, Pitkin Street Entertainment LLC, filed a similar suit in Hartford’s U.S. District Court against the town and Zoning Inspector Gary Zalucki. In May, the group bought an empty parcel at 131-133 Pitkin St. near the Founders Plaza business park for $240,000.

Pitkin Street Entertainment’s owner is Joseph Sullo, a Hartford business owner. He was twice thwarted from opening adult businesses in Hartford, once for a strip club in 2006 and again for a lingerie and video store in 2007, according to published reports.

For his 2006 venture, Sullo partnered with Daniel Quinn, who owns Kahoots strip clubs in East Hartford and Vernon, and many other adult entertainment establishments across the state.

Neither Sullo nor his lawyer, Daniel Silver, were available for comment.

Both suits claim the town’s zoning regulations are unconstitutional and violate both businesses’ First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights of freedom of speech and expression.

Pitkin Street Entertainment accuses town officials of establishing regulations that essentially zone-out adult businesses, which they said is illegal.

None of the properties purchased by the companies are zoned properly for adult businesses, which are only allowed in I-3 zones.

Scott Chadwick, the town’s legal counsel, said an outside law firm is already reviewing the first suit and town officials are beginning the review process for the second complaint. He would not comment directly on the lawsuits.
East Hartford’s adult business zoning regulations were created in the early ’90s in reaction to Quinn’s strip club opening in town.

The business, on Main Street just a stone’s throw from Town Hall, opened as a standard restaurant and then overnight was turned into a strip club, Dayton said. The change was legal at the time, because the town had no regulations pertaining to strip clubs.

In addition to the Kahoots, there are the Venus Lounge club and Aircraft Book & News video store, both on Main Street, in town.

According to regulations, adult businesses need a special permit to open and can only be placed in I-3 zoning. Additionally, no adult business can be within 1,000 feet of another adult business, school, house of worship, charitable institution, hospital, library, public playground, town fire or police station, or any municipal building.

Adult businesses also must be 1,500 feet from any residential zone.

In a curious addition, adult businesses must also provide a minimum of 120 parking spaces, possibly as another way to stymie such places from setting up shop locally.

The special public hearing will be at the Town Council Chambers in Town Hall, 740 Main St., on Wednesday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m.