Florida- from www.palmbeachpost.com – The city commission unanimously approved changes to the code of ordinances designed to crack down on criminal activity at adult entertainment businesses.

If passed on final reading Dec. 7, the revised regulations would go into effect shortly after that.

The city’s regulations would prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol at adult entertainment businesses – a common regulation within many other cities, including West Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Delray Beach.

They also would require nude or partially nude employees to keep six feet of distance between themselves and others, and they could only entertain from a stage that is raised at least 18 inches from the floor, which would eliminate lap dances.

But not all of the changes would make things more difficult for such businesses.

Currently adult entertainment businesses must be located a minimum of 1,000 feet from residential, recreational and public properties, other adult entertainment businesses, schools and houses of worship. The new regulations would reduce the minimum separation distance to 750 feet, which would increase the number of available sites for adult entertainment businesses from two to five.

City Attorney Jim Cherof said that staff chose to increase the number of available sites in order to be fair to operators of such businesses and to make the city’s regulations more defensible if challenged in court.

The city commission passed a 180-day moratorium for adult entertainment businesses on Feb. 2, and since then, the moratorium was extended twice while staff continued to study the issue. Tuesday night the commission approved another short extension of the moratorium until Dec. 14 to allow staff to finalize the new regulations.

Crime has long been a problem at the city’s adult entertainment businesses, none of which are currently in business. In October, police shut down Platinum Showgirls at 1115 N. Federal Highway following a four-month undercover investigation that led to 30 employees being charged and the owner of the club pleading guilty to racketeering and prostitution.

In 2008, the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency spent $1.3 million to buy the cabaret and liquor licenses for Platinum Gold, a strip club at the corner of Federal Highway and Gulfstream Boulevard. That property, along with what used to be the Gulfstream Mall next to it, will soon be home to a Walmart.

And going back even further, in 2001, the city bought Morey’s Lounge – a strip club that displayed a lighted nativity scene on its roof at Christmas and had become a center for crime.