EL PASO — New regulations for strip clubs and adult businesses in unincorporated parts of El Paso will be considered Monday by County Commissioners Court.
The proposed regulations also would require businesses to be at least 1,000 feet from homes, churches, schools, parks and day cares, and would place limits on the size and content of signs used to attract people.
It also would require that employees be licensed and that dancers stay at least 6 feet from customers.
County Commissioner Dan Haggerty said he will support an order that would focus on signs and where the businesses operate, but he does not believe in licensing employees or delving into the behavior inside each establishment.
“I’m not in favor of licensing every girl because what happens if the place shuts down? Does she have to go get a new license?” he asked. “Then we would have to set up a new department to take care of licensing, and I just don’t see the point in all of that.”
Still, the proposed regulations, which would also require licensing for business owners and prohibit establishments from operating between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. on any day, should be considered an unfinished order that can be shaped Monday, County Commissioner Veronica Escobar said.
“What the county attorney’s office wanted to do was give us pretty broad parameters of what we could do, and then we select what we want and don’t want,” she said.
Escobar said she is in favor of licensing owners, but does not believe the requirement should carry over to employees.
“I think we should limit ourselves to what we can enforce unless we are willing to create an office within the Sheriff’s Office that is willing to enforce every aspect in the order,” she said.