from www.kob.com – The controversial Albuquerque Pornotopia Adult Film Festival is canceled for the second year in a row.

Organizers are fighting with the city over zoning issues and now they cannot find a place to hold the festival.

Back in 2008, in its second year at the Guild Cinema in Nob Hill, the city cited the theatre for breaking the adult amusement ordinance.

Now, the director for Pornotopia said the city is not allowing them to apply for a special use permit.

“We’re at a stand still, we have had conflicting messages from the city about what we can and can’t do in the past year,” said Pornotopia Film Festival Director Matie Fricker.

Pornotopia appealed and the courts upheld the ruling, siding with the city.

The festival is now required to use a building that is zoned for industrial use, and the city is not making any exceptions.

“There isn’t a theatre in those areas, the places that are deemed appropriate are not deemed appropriate to have people in them…we’d be up against fire code violations,” Fricker explained.

Businesses near the Guild welcome the festival that once drew a crowd of over 1,000 people.

Greg Overman has owned the Bike Coop bike shop next to the Guild for over a decade.

“Nobody’s complained, it hasn’t been bad for my business…the line runs right in front of the door,” Overman said.

Fricker said the city is not willing to help them get an adult entertainment special use permit and said it is stalling on the issue.

“We just received news this weekend that there’s no exception we can possibly get a special permit, it’s frustrating,” Frickers expressed.

City officials refused to talk because the appeal from the 2008 violation is still in the courts.