Monroeville, Pa- Spurned in court, owners of an erotic boutique still want to cozy up to Monroeville, but municipal officials are giving them the cold shoulder.

Representatives from Ambiance Inc. — a Cleveland-based chain of lingerie and sex-toy stores — are seeking a meeting with Monroeville officials after having lost a legal fight over the municipality’s refusal to allow the shop to open in Jonnet Plaza.

“The court has ruled,” municipal Manager Marshall Bond said. “Why would we want to meet?”

Monroeville contends Ambiance is an adult business, which municipal laws don’t allow outside industrial areas. Ambiance officials, however, say the classification doesn’t fit its business and seek to convince Monroeville officials.

“We are disappointed with the court’s decision,” Ambiance President Jennifer Downey said. “We believe that Monroeville’s actions were based on a mistaken understanding of our business. Ambiance is not an adult-video store or an adult bookstore under any fair standard and should have been allowed to open its Monroeville store.”

Ambiance operates eight stores, all of them in Ohio. The nearest is in Boardman, about 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Billed as the store for lovers, Ambiance shops feature such items as lickable lotions, body chocolate and sex-toy kits, according to a company Web site.

Boardman Zoning Inspector Darren Crivelli backs Downey’s contention that Ambiance isn’t an adult business.

“Having visited the store after they opened (in 2002), I would tend to agree that it’s not a hard-core pornography store. It’s not what you expect to see in an adult bookstore,” Crivelli said. “They haven’t been a problem.”

Less than a week before Ambiance’s planned November 2002 opening in Jonnet Plaza, Monroeville officials revoked the company’s building and occupancy permits. Officials said Ambiance had misrepresented itself as a women’s clothing store and concealed the sexual nature of its business.

Ambiance challenged the decision in court, but Allegheny County Judge Joseph James last month said the municipality was within its rights. Ambiance also lost a federal lawsuit charging that the municipality’s zoning ordinances violated the company’s constitutional rights. U.S. District Court Judge Gary Lancaster dismissed the case.

Plaza owner Jonnet Development Corp. has filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County Court against Ambiance for failing to pay rent. The store’s lease was to run from Dec. 1, 2002 through Nov. 30, 2007. The suit has not been heard.