Exotic dancing hasn't died yet at Crazy Goat

Exotic dancers are still strutting their stuff on stage at the Crazy Goat Saloon while confusion surrounds legal questions regarding the club's sexually oriented business license.

Salt Lake City Attorney Ed Rutan told the Deseret Morning News Friday that the club's sexually oriented business license had been revoked following a decision by a hearing examiner and that the saloon's owner could not take the matter up with the mayor.

But he acknowledged Saturday that isn't the case after complaints by saloon co-owner and attorney Daniel Darger regarding a story in Saturday's Deseret Morning News.

"That was a mistake on my part," Rutan said.

Rutan corrected his misstatement Saturday, saying that Darger is allowed to challenge the hearing examiner's conclusion and bring the issue to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson for a decision.

Rutan said he and Darger disagree on whether the saloon's sexually oriented business license should still be in place in the meantime. Darger insists the license must stay put — and the regularly scheduled exotic dancing entertainment continues at the Goat.

"The question is not clear whether the decision the hearing examiner issued takes effect during a review by the mayor or does not," Rutan said.

Hearing examiner John Cawley released a four-page recommendation Friday stating that the Goat's sexually oriented business license should be revoked because a stage used for striptease entertainment in a west room in the basement is too close to the West Temple Gateway Corridor.

City ordinances forbid sexually oriented businesses from being located within certain distances of various protected land uses such as churches, schools or gateway corridors, which are the main avenues people use to get into the city.

The downstairs stage at the Goat is within 165 feet of the gateway corridor, while an upstairs stage used for exotic dancing is 171 feet away. Rutan previously said that the club could retain its sexually oriented business license if it stopped using the basement stage.

The Goat's private club license remains in place, so no matter what happens, the facility can still offer patrons alcoholic drinks and music.

Darger insists that Rutan confused two ordinances that govern nightspots and that the specific language in the city's sexually oriented business ordinance permits his club to continue offering exotic dancing while he protests the hearing examiner's findings to the mayor.