Bobby Cannon and the Bare Elegance Show Club have lost their zoning case in Lubbock County in their attempt to obtain a permit to open.
The Bare Elegance Show Club had twice been denied a business permit because of county zoning regulations that prevent a sexually oriented business from opening 1,500 feet from a “dwelling.”
When Cannon first tried to get a permit for the proposed club in November 2003, a neighbor moved a five-wheel, travel trailer next to the plot, claiming that it was a dwelling. Cannon reapplied for a permit in January 2004, but again was denied. Then in March of last year, he filed a lawsuit against the county.
First Amendment attorney John Fahle, who represented Cannon’s interests, filed a summary judgment in Lubbock County Court on March 21. A judge can make a summary judgment without hearing testimony from either side, but based entirely on physical and written evidence provided as well as briefs filed by both sides.
But the case was dismissed on a technicality last week.
“The case was dismissed simply because we were not registered as a corporation when we filed the first time around,” Cannon told AVN.com. “So we re-filed for the license. However I did not renew my 30-day contract with the landowner. It was just dismissed on a real small technicality. It pisses me off. They did not even argue this little travel trailer. The trailer never even came up.”
Cannon said he was not planning to appeal.
“I’m done with it,” he said. “… We’re just going to give up on that location and try to do something else. We’re just stuck. We’re going to forget it and start all over again.”
The county had changed its ordinance four times since Cannon made his first attempt for a permit. Cannon suggested that the county purposely altered it in an effort to prevent him from opening, though he had no evidence.
Cannon had planned to build a $1.5 million nude dance club on the property.
