Crazy Goat wins a round

Salt Lake City received a bit of a scolding Monday in its ongoing feud with a downtown strip club.

Third District Judge Denise Lindberg chastized city attorneys for not following her orders in a previous court hearing.

"It seems to me pretty clear that the city went exactly where I told it not to go," Lindberg said.

Two weeks ago a city hearing examiner recommended the city revoke the Crazy Goat Saloon's sexually oriented business license and city attorney Ed Rutan said he would seek to shut the club down.

But Lindberg on Monday issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the city from closing the Crazy Goat, near 100 South and West Temple, until at least June 9 when she considers whether to permanently ban the city from closing the strip club.

The judge's comments appeared to indicate the Crazy Goat, formerly known as the Dead Goat Saloon, may win in its dispute with the city.

"Frankly, I believe that there is substantial likelihood (the saloon) would prevail on the merits," she said.

The city, by way of the hearing examiner's ruling, had sought to shut down the Crazy Goat because the club was using a basement stripper stage that was within 165 feet of West Temple street, considered a gateway corridor. City ordinance forbids strip clubs from operating within 165 feet of a gateway corridor.

But Crazy Goat owner Daniel Darger, an attorney, argued the city can't retroactively revoke his license, since city detectives and licensing agents, along with the Board of Adjustment already granted him his sexually oriented business license and had already considered the reasons recently cited for revoking that license.

If the city had issues with the 165-foot rule, it shouldn't have issued the license in the first place, Darger said.

Lindberg seemed to agree and said the city shouldn't have held the administrative hearing finding the Crazy Goat's license should be revoked.

Darger has appealed the hearing examiner's decision to Mayor Rocky Anderson. Lindberg said she will allow Anderson to either uphold or reverse the hearing officer before she weighs in on the 165-foot rule.

Lindberg is considering several issues in a suit brought by Property Reserve Inc., the real-estate arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Souvenir Stop, a tenant of the ZCMI Center mall, about a block from the Crazy Goat.

The suit argues that Salt Lake City erred when it gave Darger's club a sexually oriented business license. The suit is seeking revocation of the license.

The City Council has since adopted new ordinances prohibiting strip clubs downtown and anywhere east of 300 West.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com