Bar owner pleased to see adult only bylaw pass

Texas Mickey Bar owner Jen Casavant still sounds relieved, days after securing a huge victory at last week's May 9 council meeting to add "adult entertainment establishment" as a permitted use to the property her business operates on.

"I'm just really, really happy. I don't know what you want me to say. I'm beyond happy," Casavant said.

The bar is currently closed until the end of August. Until then, she plans to renovate and pledges that the establishment will maintain its identity as a "college bar."

"I'm not going to turn it into a strip bar. Wednesdays will still be karaoke night, Thursday is for the college and then I was thinking of having live bands on Fridays," she said.

As for Saturdays, they will be known as "Sexy Saturdays," featuring female exotic dancers. Male shows will happen every few months, she said.

"If it's too much, I'll cut it less and less."

Council passed the site-specific land use bylaw amendment by a 4-2 vote. The yeas: Olds mayor Judy Dahl, Wade Bearchell, Debbie Bennett and Mary Jane Harper. The nays: Harvey Walsh and Rudy Durieux. Mary Anne Overwater was absent for the meeting.

Casavant can now apply for a development permit seeking a change of use, adding "adult entertainment establishment" to 4710 50 Avenue.

For permitted uses, the development officer is the development authority who can approve, deny or approve the permit with conditions, said chief administrative officer Norm McInnis.

"If they're not asking for any variances and it's a permitted use in that district, the development authority is obligated to approve the permit," McInnis said.

"If there are variances, it will go to the municipal planning commission."

Council's decision came after a nearly 40-minute public hearing, where chambers were filled with about 20 people. While they didn't all speak, most came in support of Casavant's application.

Six people in total stepped up to the microphone. Three were opposed to the application, saying adult entertainment would not make for a family-friendly community.

Casavant herself spoke, saying she needed to offer such an option to attract more customers. Her fledgling business has been hit hard by the economic downturn, she said. She promised extra security would be on hand.

She also referenced comments made by members of the Uptowne Olds committee.

"I will also promise I won't advertise outside my establishment with neon ladies waving and big signs stating, 'strippers here,'" she said.

As one of the councillors who voted against the application, Harvey Walsh said he was sympathetic to the challenges Casavant faced as a business owner. But he's concerned about what might happen if a different owner moves in. In such a case, the permitted use would remain with the property.

"It could be a little bit more hardcore adult entertainment. But once you make that bylaw and somebody buys that premise on that basis, you can't rescind it because then you're looking at a lawsuit for that discrimination," Walsh said.

McInnis said one of the conditions placed on Casavant's permit application – which has not been filed yet – could be that the "adult entertainment establishment" usage runs with the owner, not the land.

Also, Walsh was not convinced that the bylaw amendment could be justified by an attempt to save a business.

"I do hope she's successful in her endeavors to make it work and I have no doubt she'll keep it on a level that's appealable to the community. But again, once you start it, how do you say no to the next bar that's Uptowne? They can all come with the same argument," he said.

Explaining her decision to vote in favour of the application, Mayor Judy Dahl said she did not "want to be the judge … (of) people who are citizens and human beings and perhaps live a different lifestyle than any other person in this community. I think rights are rights and I didn't get a feeling that it was unsafe."

Dahl also said her decision would not negatively impact her relationship with the Uptowne Olds committee, which had staked its opposition to adult entertainment in the area early on.

"I was elected to work for 10,000 people in this community. I believe there was nothing that proved to me that it was going to be unsafe. I didn't see any Uptowne Olds people here today … I would have liked to hear some of their comments."

That lack of organized opposition might have been the deciding factor. According to Walsh, the longest-serving councillor, it was a different story in 2008 when Casavant previously applied and failed to get approval to hold adult entertainment.

"There wasn't a lot of debate (back then). The majority was against it. There wasn't the argument for maintaining a business. The turnout was not as big. I think this is what made a difference, the support she garnered."

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