Placentia : Council Rejects Bid to Open Peep Show

Following emotional pleas from parents, high school principals, Boy Scout and church leaders Tuesday night, the City Council denied a Van Nuys businessman’s request to open a peep show here.

The council also adopted an ordinance to regulate adult businesses, including criteria that prohibit doors on peep-show booths and allow police to make background investigations of proprietors and employees.

Lee Grant, an attorney for Dynavid Ltd. Inc., which requested permission to open the business at the Atwood Plaza on Orangethorpe Avenue, said after the meeting that he would resubmit his proposal to the Planning Commission and would file a lawsuit to uphold the “right of the people to express and receive and exchange ideas.”

“I don’t think this is a battle between the forces of good and evil,” Grant said. “I don’t think Dynavid is evil.”

After the unanimous vote, Councilman John Tynes asked the city staff to determine how much money should be set aside to defend the city against a suit.

Approximately 175 residents jammed the council chamber. Speakers said the proposed business, which would have small booths for individual screenings of adult movies, was an affront to morality and a danger to their community.

“If we don’t stand up for our kids, . . . what chance will our children have?” asked Linda Orullian, a mother of seven who fought back sobs as she addressed the council.

Placentia resident Jesse Shelby, who delivered more than 1,000 signatures opposing the business, said, “We’re in this fight. The will of the people is expressed in these petitions, and we think the will of the people is more important than the will of one businessman.”

The city received at least one other petition with about 1,000 signatures.

Carl Rogers, vice chairman of the city’s Cultural Arts Commission, urged the council to deny the appeal by owner Raymond Pistol “based on the moral standards and the petitions and everything else you have received.”’

Mayor George Ziegler agreed, and he added a provision to the denial specifying that the business was inappropriate because it “promotes activities not in keeping with the moral standards of the community.”

Pistol earlier was turned down by the Planning Commission, which cited inadequate parking and lack of accessibility for handicapped people.

Grant said that although the original proposal complied with city codes, his client had changed the plans to include booths on the ground floor that would be accessible to the handicapped.

Grant accused the city of failing “to abide by its own rules” and arbitrarily denying a license based on moral grounds.