Strip Clubs Close In Sandy Springs

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Three adult entertainment businesses operating in the city of Sandy Springs are now closed to customers, possibly signaling an end to a long-running legal battle over whether these ventures should be able to operate in the city without a series of ordinances that govern alcohol use and employee-customer interactions.

That's according to the city, which confirmed to Patch that the three strip clubs — Doll House/Coronet Club at 5275 Roswell Road, Mardis Gras at 6300 Powers Ferry Road and Flasher's at 6420 Roswell Road — have both "opted to close."

City spokesperson Sharon Kraun said with the Georgia Supreme Court and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Sandy Springs' regulations on adult entertainment, the city last week notified the venues that it will begin enforcing ordinances that imposed heavy restrictions on their operations within its jurisdiction.

City Attorney Dan Lee said Inserection at 7855 Roswell Road, an adult entertainment bookstore and gift shop, remains open to customers.

According to the Doll House and Coronet Club's Facebook pages, a photo of a typed message posted on their doors was published on Sept. 5 for their followers to read.

"Unfortunately, the city of Sandy Springs disapproves of our industry, and will no longer allow us to operate our business," the message reads. "We are closed indefinitely. Thank you so much for your continued patronage over the years. It has truly been our pleasure to serve you."

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News of the closures came just a week after a woman, an employee at Mardi Gras, spoke to the Sandy Springs City Council at its Sept. 4 meeting, asking the city not to "displace and oppress dancers" by denying them an opportunity to make a living.

She told the Council that closing the three clubs, which she said defies the stereotypes of Atlanta-area strip clubs, will force the employees to work in places that are filled with drugs and prostitution. She also said Mardi Gras's proximity to homes in the Powers Ferry area have not had a negative impact on property values, and there is no crime data to suggest that the club's presence poses a safety risk.

“This is an unprecedented attack on an already marginalized group of men and women, myself included," she said.

The United States Supreme Court in June chose not to take up a petition seeking to review zoning and licensing ordinances enacted by the city of Sandy Springs that govern adult entertainment establishments.

The court rejected a writ of certiorari filed by the plaintiffs in February to review a decision made by a three-judge panel of the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals declining a request from these businesses asking that the case be heard by a full panel of judges.

The case began when Flashers, Mardi Gras, and Inserection, an adult bookstore, challenged newly implemented codes that banned the sale of alcohol in strip clubs and placed zoning restrictions on where these business could operate. Those restrictions also regulated patron conduct, imposed restrictions on performances and regulated the display of adult materials.

The book store and clubs filed suit in U.S. District Court, alleging that Sandy Springs violated its First and Fourteenth Amendments under the U.S. Constitution. A March 2016 court ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May stated the city did not violate the U.S. Constitution in implementing code restrictions.

In its petition filed at the country's highest court, the petitioners argued enforcing the city's regulations "sounds the death knell" for the three businesses. For example, when the city implemented a two-week ban on alcohol sales in 2009, Flanigan's, the company that operates Mardi Gras, experienced an 80 to 90 percent drop in business and lost 90 percent of its performers "who left to go dance at venues outside Sandy Springs where alcohol was permitted."

It also said Flasher's "suffered equally fatal loses." As for Inserection, enforcement of the zoning restrictions will force the company at 7855 Roswell Road to close the location is has operated for more than 25 years, the lawyers for the plaintiffs argued.

Patch has reached out to Cary Wiggins, who represented the three businesses in its lawsuit against Sandy Springs, to get his reaction to the city's move and the clubs' closures.

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