Midvale to redo sex-business rules

MIDVALE — Elected officials are slated to make Midvale's ordinances about sex products among the most stringent in the nation.

The proposed changes could nullify an ongoing legal dispute between the city and a local boutique, Doctor John's Lingerie. The case has been in the courts for years; Midvale has prevailed in each instance so far.

In 2008, the store was raided by local police searching for sex merchandise. That resulted in a pair of lawsuits currently tied up in court.

First, the new rules would allow the city to audit every commercial establishment to ensure that less than a quarter of total sales is in sexually specific items. Establishments granted sexually oriented business licenses would also be audited, but the 25 percent rule would not apply to them, said Midvale attorney Craig Hall.

Second, Midvale would prohibit businesses not in possession of the special license from stocking more than 10 percent of floor space in sex merchandise, excluding medically recognized contraceptives. Other Utah cities — including Salt Lake City — have similar rules, but they allow up to 15 percent.

Doctor John's attorney said in December 2008 that such a defining line was all his client wanted. Doctor John's location on the city's main drag makes it ineligible for a sexually oriented business license.

The rule requiring annual audits and less than 25 percent of total sales from sex products is the first of its kind in the country, Hall said.

"It is my creation," he said, explaining to the City Council that he has written and successfully defended SOB laws in other jurisdictions.

Hall said he believes the new rules could be upheld because, although governments cannot control speech, they can regulate the time, place and manner in which it is expressed.

Finally, the rewritten code would require even the drivers of escorts to obtain licenses as sex workers. It would also require written contracts between escorts and their clients.

"I think we should do it," Midvale City Councilman Wayne Sharp said Tuesday. "If we don't push the envelope one way, it gets pushed the other way."

Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini said the new rules would be good for the community as a whole.

"I think it's important enough to business to be able to have a descriptive ordinance," Seghini said. "Let's define it and say you can sell some, but that's not all you can do."

Specifics about the audit process have not yet been decided, Hall said, but city officials probably won't be looking at the books of grocers or lingerie shops such as Victoria's Secret.

The City Council likely will vote on the issue in August after holding a public hearing. The council will also consider changes to the city's gun laws at that time. The new rules, according to Hall, would bring Midvale ordinances in line with Utah code.

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com