Lynnwood Building May Get Role Change -- Hall Could Serve AA Unit Instead Of Dancing

LYNNWOOD - What almost became a nude-dancing club earlier this year may become a meeting hall for recovering alcoholics. And city officials and many residents seem mighty relieved.

``From the council's standpoint and the city's standpoint, it would be a most welcome addition,'' said City Councilwoman Karen Burke. ``We're trying to find a way to accommodate it.''

Snohomish County businessman Ken Westphal has told city officials he wants to operate a meeting hall for Alcoholics Anonymous - the nationwide organization for recovering alcoholics - in the former Veterans of Foreign Wars building at 21110 66th Ave. W. And unlike many AA meeting halls, the facility would also include a restaurant, soda fountain and game room, he said.

The site is the same building Bare Elegance Inc. unsuccessfully attempted to convert to a nude-dancing club earlier this year. Many citizens were upset about that proposal and city officials ultimately rejected the club's business-license application because club representatives failed to provide requested information on time.

The building is also where a teen club, Turnips & Beats, operated several years ago. The city received numerous complaints from neighbors, who said the club brought noise, parking problems and vandalism.

The building is still owned by Bill Nosworthy, who operated the teen club. Westphal said Nosworthy, who could not be reached for comment, has been receptive to his offer.

Burke said Westphal's plan has been received warmly by City Council members.

She said the only hitch is that the former VFW building sits in the city's adult-entertainment zone, which does not allow the facility Westphal wants to operate. The zone allows adult businesses and some commercial and industrial uses, but not restaurants.

Burke said the council agreed to ask the Planning Commission to consider Westphal's request, with an eye toward recommending a revision of the city's adult-entertainment zone to allow the use.

The request comes at a time when officials in Lynnwood and other suburban communities are struggling hard to determine where in their cities to allow adult entertainment - which many citizens ferociously oppose but which courts have ruled is protected by the First Amendment.

Lynnwood officials have wrestled with the issue all year. Currently, as they are reviewing where in the city to allow adult businesses, they have placed a moratorium on accepting business-license applications from such businesses until April.

City Councilman Bill Blackburn said the uproar over adult entertainment in general and the nude-dancing club, Bare Elegance, in particular has probably made the AA meeting hall proposal more palatable to neighbors.

``Most residential areas would question it,'' said Blackburn.

In this case, nearby residents and business owners are showing support.

A citizens group that is suing the city for allowing adult entertainment in the southwest area of Lynnwood, where the building is located, says it supports Westphal's plan and is urging the city to return the area to its original zoning allowing mixed uses.

Karren Hogan, spokeswoman for Citizens for a Quality Environment, said she polled about 85 of the group's 100 members and everyone she reached supported the AA facility. ``I would rather have an AA meeting hall than a nightclub. It's more consistent with the neighborhood,'' Hogan said.

A nonprofit women's organization also has offered to buy the former VFW building to convert it to a women's shelter. But Anne Gordon, executive director of Pathways for Women, said she understands the owner of the building may want more money for the facility than the group has.

``We are limited by grant funds,'' Gordon said, adding the group also has an offer on another nearby building.