Strip club for strip mall in southern York County turned down again

A federal judge denied an appeal by the would-be creators of a strip club in Chanceford Township, upholding an earlier judgment in a years-long legal battle.

Terry Sutton, the part-owner of the Brogue Center on Delta Road in the township, Brenda L. Sutton and Chris Cinkaj, who did business under the name Cinkaj Brogue Limited Partnership, brought the case against the township in 2014 after officials denied a club they had proposed in the strip mall.

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In March 2013, Sutton was approached by an adult entertainment venue about opening the club. Sutton went to the township to propose the nude dancing or adult cabaret club that was going to be called The Office.

The club planned to have "live nude female dancers," and 10 separate rooms for private entertainment, according to a zoning application that was filed at the time. The club was going to have a membership-based fee for entry where patrons could bring their own beverages.

The area where the strip club was being proposed was zoned for general commercial. Adult-oriented facilities were allowed in such zoned areas, but needed the approval through a special exception by the township's zoning hearing board.

Some township residents were opposed to the strip club, including a group of more than 100 people who held a vigil in the area and a group that formed an anti-strip club Facebook page.

Ultimately, the township's planning commission and zoning hearing board rejected the application for a special exception, even though the business could have been permitted in the commercially zoned area. The club's owner decided to open in Atlantic City, N.J., after Chanceford Township rejected the zoning application.

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Sutton and his business partners filed the lawsuit against the township in August 2014, alleging the township had violated their free speech rights under the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions when it denied the permit for the club.

The lawsuit also alleged that the "improper and unconstitutional denial" of the special exception deprived them of the use of their property.

The lawsuit had sought an unspecified amount of monetary damages and a ruling by the court declaring the township's zoning ordinance regarding adult-oriented facilities is unconstitutional and should not be enforced. 

Also of interest, check out local photos from the mid-1980s: