Johns Creek, Ga- Johns Creek just said “no” to the Love Shack.
John Cornetta, [pictured] owner of the adult video store chain, applied for a regular business license with the new city.
The city said basically: You lie. The Love Shack is not a regular business. Request denied.
“The application contains materially false information,” said a March 8 letter from City Manager John Kachmar to Cornetta. “The city’s business license application form asks ‘Will your business be an adult business establishment [sexually oriented business] . . . You responded in the negative. This is materially false . . . ”
The letter goes on to say that the Love Shack is not authorized to operate at its location at Jones Bridge and State Bridge roads, and recalls that a judge found that the business was operating illegally.
Mayor Mike Bodker said that means Cornetta must:
• comply with the law and stop selling adult material;
• ask to have the property rezoned;
• move to a location where adult businesses are allowed.
Cornetta says there’s a fourth option — lawsuit.
“They’re picking on the wrong gunslinger,” Cornetta said.
Cornetta’s attorney, Cary Wiggins, said the finding may be a precursor to an effort by the city to padlock the store, which has stirred passions and controversy since it opened Nov. 29, just before the newly incorporated city became a functioning legal entity on Dec. 1.
“This means they’re either not going to tax us, or try to shut us down,” he said. “And I don’t think they’re going to let us operate for free.”
Cornetta is still in federal court trying to fight Fulton County for denying him a business license. Cornetta claims the store’s inventory met the county guidelines for a regular business license, but the county refused. The county won some hollow victories in court — the judge ruled in its favor and then stayed the orders, allowing the business to stay open. Now that Johns Creek is a functioning legal entity, the county is washing its hands of the matter.
Wiggins said Cornetta sought a business license from Johns Creek in an effort to comply with the law.
“That’s just good practice,” he said. “When you go to court to claim you’ve been harmed, the judge is going to ask, ‘Well, did you try?’ ”
The letter doesn’t specify in what basis the city determined the Love Shack is an adult business. The city hired a team of lawyers to draft a super-ordinance that defines adult businesses in every possible way (adult inventory, total sales, percentage sales, square footage, for example) to close any possible loopholes.
A hearing before a hearing officer is set for April 2.
The city on Monday appointed Richard Carothers, a Gwinnett County attorney experienced in fighting adult businesses, as its hearing officer.