EULESS, Texas — [www.star-telegram.com]- Totally nude dancing — not allowed.

Stuffing dollar bills in a stripper’s G-string — nope.

Tonight, the Euless City Council will consider tougher licensing requirements for sexually oriented businesses, effectively banning totally nude dances and imposing “no touching” and “no tipping” rules within city limits.

Euless’ sexually oriented-business ordinance hasn’t been amended since 1994, when some of the day-to-day realities of such businesses were not well-defined. Since then, cities across Texas have fought legal battles for control of the businesses, including Arlington and Kennedale.

Euless officials say the amendment clarifies in theory only how a sexually oriented business in Euless might operate. While some clubs operate close to the Euless border, there have been no applications made to the city.

“Nothing prompted this,” City Manager Gary McKamie said.

The authority of Texas cities to regulate the businesses, particularly where sexually oriented merchandise is sold but no on-site entertainment is offered, has been a slippery legal slope for the past five years. City officials say they want to avail themselves of legal remedies that have recently developed.

At 51 pages, the ordinance is largely a catalog of definitions and regulations for various types of sexually oriented businesses, including adult arcades, bookstores, novelty stores, video stores, cabarets, motels, motion picture theaters, escort agencies and nude model studios.

For example, here’s the rule on tipping dancers: “Touching or tipping an employee who is in a state of nudity or semi-nudity is a crime (misdemeanor), punishable by fine up to $2,000. Patrons shall remain at least six feet from all unenclosed performance stages while a person is performing on said performance stage.”

The new ordinance does not alter the 1,000-foot minimum distance requirement in place under Euless’ old ordinance.

It does require one or more employees to monitor the parking lots by video cameras and monitors, with recordings kept for at least one week.

It also contains strict licensing requirements, as well as grounds for the police chief to revoke the license. In some cases, it would be enough that an applicant’s spouse be in violation of a provision for the license to be revoked.

Sexually oriented businesses would be required to close at 2 a.m.

And there are a couple of nuances when it comes to nudity. Section 18-107 prohibits nudity and semi-nudity in public places: “This has the practical effect of banning totally nude adult cabarets in Euless, which is constitutionally permissible. It does not ban topless clubs; however, it will require dancers to wear pasties and g-strings, also constitutionally permissible.”

Exceptions are made however, for nudity that has “serious artistic merit” and breastfeeding.

In early 2006, the ability of cities and counties to regulate off-site sexually oriented businesses, such as a video store that sells entertainment to be used off-premises, came under serious attack. Specifically, court cases previously used to link on-site sexually oriented businesses — strip clubs and other places where entertainment takes place — to negative impacts related to off-site businesses were not being upheld.

A case involving a San Antonio adult bookstore named Encore Videos further undercut city authority by arguing that an off-site sexually oriented business did not act as a “hot spot” for negative activity, said San Antonio lawyer Bradford E. Bullock, who worked on that case and helped Euless craft its new ordinance.

Subsequently, the Texas City Attorneys Association commissioned a study on the impact that the businesses have on surrounding property values and crime rates. The study, finished in June, showed that off-site sexually oriented businesses have a negative impact on property values. It also shows “that it is a scientific fact sexually-oriented businesses pose large, statistically significant ambient public safety hazards in terms of prostitution, drugs, assault, robbery, and vandalism.”

In many cases, the negative impact of on-site and off-site sexually oriented businesses was indistinguishable.

The study findings have been incorporated into the new Euless ordinance, Bullock said, and are used as a “reasonable basis for restrictions.”