Goodpasture School February 9, 2015 My name is Steve North. I have lived in Madison for at least 60 years and JoAnn and I have reared our 3 sons and helped rear our 6 grandchildren right here in Madison. I am a 1959 graduate of Madison High School. Along with my son, I have owned and operated a law practice on Gallatin Road near Due West Avenue for the last 20 years. Ricky Perry has asked me to comment as a Madison business owner on the economic impact of the proposed Social Club to be located adjacent to where we are meeting tonight. It is not my intention to disparage or oppose anyone’s life style, even if I disagree with it. Nor do I advocate the abridgment of the right of free expression or the pursuit of happiness. On the other hand all rights are subject to reasonable regulation. For example, my right to swing my fists ends where your nose begins. Economic Impact of a Swinger’s Social ClubIt is indisputable that Nashville is experiencing a boom in housing, industry and prosperity. There is a wave of economic development extending out from the city center. If you don’t believe it, ask any landowner in East Nashville or Inglewood. Mixed use development is expanding out every main artery including Gallatin Road and Dickerson Pike. Madison is on the cusp of that wave of prosperity. This is particularly true of the area of Madison where we are tonight. Charles Robert Bone quoted a statistic to me a couple of weeks ago that I thought I had heard wrong. I asked him about that statistic on Saturday and he confirmed that I had heard right. He said that 75 families a day move into Nashville and that number is rising. That’s 27,350 families a year and over a quarter of a million families in the next 10 years. They are going to live somewhere and work somewhere and the children are going to go to school somewhere. The demand for housing in Nashville is booming . In addition, Nashville is one of the leading cities in the country for attracting corporate headquarters, with their good paying jobs and demand for housing, services and commercial development. Think for a minute. Compare this area of Due West between Gallatin Rd. and Dickerson Pike with any other place in the Nashville area. Is there any place in or near Nashville where there is as much developable land for a corporate headquarters for the next Bridgestone/ Firestone, Nissan, or Dollar General? Where else do you have the combination of being 10 minutes from downtown, 5 minutes from a hospital and trauma center, with almost direct access to Briley Parkway, the Airport, all Interstate highways, both private and public schools. These same advantages make the property we are talking about on Lentz Drive and across Due West very attractive for Mixed use development. I respectfully suggest to you that the existence of a Swingers Social Club on the proposed property would place an obstruction to the coming tide of prosperity. I don’t think any sensible CEO would locate a world headquarters adjacent to a Swingers Social Club nor would a mixed use developer locate family residencies in such a neighborhood. In my opinion, this Swingers night club would cause the wave of prosperity to divert around and skip over Madison. This would leave Madison as the doughnut hole of unsavory development in the center of prosperity. Proponents Arguments I want to briefly comment on some of the arguments I have heard concerning the opposition to this Social club being located where it is proposed. Some have characterized the opponents as repressed, bible thumper, religious fanatics that want to control the private lives of others and use the law to punish sin and smite evil. Although I cannot speak for all, for me, nothing could be further from the truth. To me, this is a fight to protect my community and similar communities throughout the Nashville area from unsavory businesses that destroy property values, thwart wholesome development and interfere with the desire of families to rear their children in a wholesome and safe neighborhood. Don’t think that because you don’t live in Madison, that you are not affected. This could happen in Goodlettsville, Old Hickory, Donelson, Hemitage, Mt. Juliet, Bellevue— anywhere. I have heard some proponents say that the use of this property as a sex club is legal and therefore there is nothing anyone can do about it. Nashville through its Metro Council has established a careful balance between the rights of those who want to participate in “adult entertainment” and the legitimate concerns of neighborhoods to prohibit such “entertainment” in their neighborhoods, near their schools and churches. In Metro, this balance entails limiting “adult entertainment” to a specific area and regulating such activity through an Adult Entertainment Board to protect the health safety and welfare of the citizens. In addition, the State regulates establishments that sell alcoholic beverages. This “Social Club” contends that it has avoided all regulation by use of the “members only private club” loophole to avoid regulation by zoning and the Adult Entertainment Board; and the BYOB loophole to avoid regulation by the Alcohol Beverage Commission and the Metro Beer Board. First is this “adult entertainment”. According to its website, joining the club can be done by paying $10 for a 1 day membership and also paying a door fee(or cover charge) of up to $40.00 per visit. (single women are free) Such payment entitles you to participate in sex acts or simply watch others. According to the attorney for the owner, many of their “members” just like to watch. So people pay from 10 to 50 dollars a night to watch others perform sex acts. If that is not “adult entertainment”, -Come on—That’s Adult Entertainment. Furthermore as adult entertainment, it violates the zoning laws and adult entertainment regulations. The use of the subterfuge of “private club” to get around laws has a long history in Tennessee. The private club status has been used to allow otherwise illegal gambling, illegal serving and sale of alcohol and other activity. Some clubs are legitimate, others are simply a joke. There is also a long history of abuse of BYOB in the sale of alcohol, sale of set-ups and use of cover charges to cover free food and drink. Who is going to regulate and enforce the “private club” status or the “adult entertainment” regulations or the claim that alcohol is not sold? The answer is “no one”. It appears that the owners of this property want to intentionally provoke churches, schools and families of this area in order to get free advertising of their business and drive up the price of their property. I call on Codes, the Planning Commission, Adult Entertainment Board, Metro Council and Metro Legal to scrutinize this proposal, investigate the claim of private club exemption and strictly apply the regulations. I call on Codes to stop the construction presently going on, by injunction if necessary, until a building permit is applied for and granted. I call on the Metro Council to close the “private club loophole”, if such a loophole actually exists, as it applies to Adult Entertainment.