Dayton, Ohio- The operators of an adult bookstore and those who run a nearby topless bar danced around Harrison Twp. zoning law and opened illegally without permits, township zoning officials say.

Now residents trying to stem the number of adult entertainment businesses are angry, their wrath directed at six establishments on North Dixie Drive squeezed into two miles between Ridge Avenue and Stop Eight Road. The stretch also includes the Northridge Schools campus and churches.

At a 7 p.m. meeting today, the township Board of Zoning Appeals will decide whether to close Apollo’s Palace, 5825 N. Dixie Drive. Total X Books and Video, 6388 N. Dixie Drive, also opened without approval.

“A business is not allowed to open until the permit is issued,” said Kris McClintick, township community and economic development director.

The bookstore’s fate will be decided by McClintick in the next two weeks. If McClintick denies the bookstore, it can appeal to the zoning appeals board.

“We have got to put our foot down and say enough is enough,” resident Dean Clark said.

The owners of the businesses couldn’t be reached for comment.

Along Dixie, posters of scantily clad female dancers hang on the exterior of several clubs. Another sign carries the silhouette of a nude female. McClintick said that without state legislative change the township is “almost powerless” to enforce restrictions on X-rated businesses that have opened legally and continue to do business. The trustees have met with state legislators to figure out how to more aggressively regulate adult entertainment.

Change isn’t happening soon enough for some.

“This just isn’t acceptable,” said Stephen Stamper, who lives off North Dixie. “The zoning code in Harrison Twp. needs to be rewritten or amended. Other communities have made it harder for these businesses to open.”

North Dixie Drive has long been a gathering ground for sexually-oriented business. A strip club called the Booby Trap once occupied the site of what is now the Harrison Twp. Administrative Building, 5945 N. Dixie Drive.

After court battles and zoning changes, Harrison Twp. officials saw the last of a slew of massage parlors on North Dixie close in 1990. The closures came after complaints that some employees engaged in prostitution.

Around the Miami Valley, other communities have fought similar battles. Miami County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Welbaum in October found Total Xposure a public nuisance because of sexual activity and alcohol sales. The judge ordered the Troy nude-dance club closed for a year, and the forfeiture and sale of its property. In Kettering, the city last month restricted “sexually oriented businesses” to industrial districts and created a 1,000-foot setback from churches, parks, schools and libraries.

McClintick said he and Township Administrator Marlyn Flee met on Dec. 3 with Apollo proprietor Elbert Lee Hale of Beavercreek. Hale submitted an application for a certificate of zoning compliance on Dec. 12. Businesses need the certificate to open. The Apollo, the application said, would operate as a restaurant with liquor sales and entertainment.

“The (zoning) application was very vague,” McClintick said.

Township officials were unsure of the nature of the business. Zoning regulations state that adult businesses must be at least 500 feet from churches. The Higher Dimension Prophetic Church, 5900 N. Dixie Drive, is about 225 feet away from the Apollo, McClintick said.

Before township staff members made a determination on the nature of the Apollo’s business, a Montgomery County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched there Dec. 12 on the report of a theft. In a Dec. 13 memo, Deputy Gary Ridgeway wrote that he “observed six to eight dancers on the stage. All dancers were wearing only a T-bar (small thong) and nothing covering their breasts.”

McClintick denied the zoning compliance application Dec. 16, based on the memo.

The Apollo appealed the denial. The appeal hearing was held Feb. 9. The Board of Zoning Appeals meets tonight to decide the issue.

“Those businesses have the right to due process,” McClintick said.

If the township board of zoning appeals upholds the denial, the Apollo has the right to a court appeal.

“In the meantime, we’d . . . apply for an injunction to close the business,” McClintick said.

Total X Books and Video also opened without zoning approval. The township issued a zoning violation to the business Feb. 20, McClintick said. Total X applied for zoning the same day.