County board to discuss strip club
At 6 p.m. tonight, a Peoria County Board meeting will occur; at which, a discussion about the controlling the growing number of strip-clubs within the community is scheduled to take place. The meeting will be used to first define what is to be considered a strip club, and then to both discuss and pass an ordinance that will be used to control what can happen on their premises. There is also a rumor of a settlement between Gui Brinkmen and the Peoria County Board who’s lawsuit dealt with the unanimous denial of his strip-club zoning.
Brinkmen could not be contacted to either confirm or deny these rumors; but, according to the County Chairmen, David Williams, when questioned about the lawsuit settlement he stated, "it’s a done deal on our end." The chairmen also stated that he wasn’t particularly happy with the settlement deal they made, but "[they] did the best they could."
The settlement is alleged to contain only a few major clauses which state, while the dancers can be completely nude within the club, there will be no touching, Brinkmen can not sell his zoning rights with the building, and that Peoria County will pay no legal fees for this whole lawsuit, which have currently amounted to $60,000.
The new club owner is said to have waved his rights to be grandfathered, and would follow all of the new ordinance rules if he were to receive his zoning license for the club.
Approximately one year ago, Brinkmen put in a zoning request for a strip club titled, Club Fantasyland, to be located at 3601 W. Farmington Rd. The zoning board unanimously denied Brinkmen’s request. This decision sparked the controversy of the current matter. He filed a lawsuit saying that the boards were violating his, "freedom of speech," and that they could not simply reject a valid business because it was not to their liking.