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• By JANE MCCLUItE The advent of the videocassette recorder, and rental videotapes, has added a whole new dimens[on to St. Paul's so-called adult entertainment industry. The St. Paul City Councii voted unanimously March 25 to approve n ? nterim city ordinance, to regulate adult bookstores. The interim ordi- nancewill be inplace until a study can be conducted, Office of License coons and Environmental Pro- ion Director Bob Kessler told council members. The study, to be conducted by the St. Paul Department of Planning and Economic Development, will ex• amine the impact adult-oriented businesses have on a surrounding neighborhood, said Kessler. The study will be much like one conducted in 1988, that examined areas near adult bookstores and theaters. That study was a critical part of efforts that eventually shut down the notorious Faust and Flick theaters at Dale and University. The interim ordinance is needed because aspects of adult businesses have changed since the first study was conducted, Kessler explained. Since that study was completed, the video rental industry has boomed, with outlets throughout the city. While video rental stores per se are not a problem, at issue are stores that rent a significant or substantial amount ofadult-oriented materials. One problem found with the 1988 or- dinance iswhether the amount of floor space In a business should be used to determine what is a "signifi- cant" or "substantial" amount of adult oriented material. The need for an interim ordi- nance,and new study of adult busi- ness,arose as a result of a dispute with Mike Stoderl, owner of two video stores in SL Paul. One of those stores, Exstacy House Video, is at 916.918 Uni- versity Avenue.ln February, a US. Dis- trict Court judge ruled that the city's current zoning restrictions on adult businesses are constitutional, under the adult entertainment zoning ordi- nanceprepared in 1988. The case was the first legal challenge to that ordi- nance,which arose out of a study of the negative secondary effects such businesses have on a neighborhood. Stoderi's attorney, Randall Tfgue, has said he will appeal the February ruling to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. One issue in Stoderl's dispute with the city is how much adult-ori- ented material is too much, and what is considered a "significant" or "sub- stantial" amount under the city code. Stoderl is currently interpreting the code to mean that patrons of all ages must be allowed access to every part of his store, even though "adult" videos are rented there. When the store opened, it had 100 percent adult-oriented merchan- dice. But Stoderl then rented the store next door, put in a door between the two stores and filled the new part of the store with videos that aren't "adult" in nature. That decreased the percent of adult material in the store to less than 40 percent. The interim ordinance on adult businesses goes into place at a time when the city is looking at the next step to take with another problematic type of adult business. In early Mareh, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that five owners of St. Paul saunas cannot be prosecuted on previous charges of creating a public nuisance. The ruling brings to a close a de- bate that has been waged for many months, over a state public nuisance statute and how it was used here. The statute, developed at the request of the city of Minneapolis, allows public officials to shut down such businesses after a certain number of prostitution orprostitution-related convictions in a two-year period. St. Paul's case against the five saunas, including Lee Lenore's at 740 Snelling Avenue and the Speakeasy, 927 University Avenue, was thrown out because the businesses weren't given timely notice of such convic- tions.Business owners contended they didn't learn of the attempt to close their businesses under the statute, until the city prepared law- suits seeking to seize property and close buildings. A sixth sauna initially involved in the case, the Red Carpet, has closed. First located on Grand Av- enue,the business relocated on ['^ versity Avenue in the same bus::: now occupied by the controversiai Exstacy House: The Appeals Court upheld a rul- ing by Ramsey County District Court Judge Charles Flinn Jr. that the city should have given each sauna owner notice, each time that sauna employees were convicted of acts of prostitution. Without notice, judges argued that the businesses didn't have a chance to remedy problems themselves. But with new nuisance lawsuits in the works against some of the saunas, due to new prostitution con- victionsand proper notice, the con- troversy may resurface in a new court case brought by the city. C'