DULUTH Minnesota -- City Councilor Russ Stewart will try to save Duluth's only strip joint, the Club Saratoga, from a new state law.
Stewart, whose 3rd District includes the 62-year-old Canal Park nightclub, will present an ordinance to the City Council on Monday that extends the city's existing standards for adult bookstores to adult entertainment such as strip clubs.

"I just think what the state did is they solved a problem that didn't exist," Stewart said. "And in doing so, they forced us to regulate something that had not been regulated."
City Attorney Bryan Brown, who wrote the ordinance for Stewart, said he believes the adult bookstore language will allow the Club Saratoga to operate as it does now.
Stewart's ordinance change will offer no help for controversial plans to put a strip club in the historic NorShor Theatre on Superior Street, because the NorShor is within 400 feet of a pedestrian plaza.
"I want it to be made clear that I do not want to be known as the champion of pornography," Stewart said. "They (Club Saratoga) are a business in our community, and they deserve as much attention as any other business. It's just something that needs to be dealt with, and I felt something needed to be done."
Councilors can vote on the matter as soon as their July 10 meeting. An informal poll of councilors by the News Tribune found support from six of nine councilors, more than enough for it to pass.
Stewart's ordinance sets the same hours of operation for adult entertainment that bars have. By comparison, the new state law says nude dancing can take place only from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
That law was passed with little notice in the closing days of the legislative session last month. However, it appears to have serious implications for nearly every strip club in the state, because the law does not provide for grandfathering them in.
The law, however, allows cities to create ordinances to supersede state law.
State law says strip clubs cannot be within 500 feet of the property line of any residence or within 2,800 feet -- more than half a mile -- of churches and schools. An apartment next door put the Saratoga in violation.
The current city adult bookstore ordinance, which was written in 1959 and updated last fall, provides more leeway than the state's adult live entertainment law. But it still prohibits adult bookstores from being within 600 feet of churches, parks or schools or within 400 feet of a pedestrian plaza.
Stewart said the Police Department's licensing officer would need to take an official measurement to make sure the Saratoga complies. He said one dicey issue is whether the club is within 400 feet of the Lakewalk or fountain at the corner of Canal Park Drive and Buchanan Street.
Stewart's ordinance just adds "adult entertainment establishments" to the bookstore language. The less-restrictive standards, when compared to the state law, say that an adult entertainment establishment can't be within 600 feet of a residential zone.
"Zone" is the operative word, Stewart said.
"Since there is no residential zoning in Canal Park, we figured it (Club Saratoga) would comply," Stewart said.
At Large City Councilor Don Ness said combining adult bookstores and strip clubs in the same ordinance makes it more pragmatic for enforcement officers and more defensible for city lawyers.
"The Saratoga was there before anything else was there," said 5th District Councilor Russ Stover. "It would be wrong to see them go out of business."
At Large Councilor Tim Little said he would most likely endorse the ordinance as well, because he's never heard of any problems at the club.
Last month, NorShor Theatre owner Dr. Eric Ringsred and Jim Gradishar announced plans to turn the aging theater into a strip club.
"I know the Lakeplace Park is right across the street from the NorShor, so I doubt that they would comply," Stewart said.
A leading First Amendment attorney for Minnesota club owners already said he will challenge the state law. Gradishar has said he set aside plans to open this summer until he sees how the legal challenges shake out.
Brown also said he still plans to ask the Attorney General's Office to weigh in on the constitutionality of the state law. If Mike Hatch says it's OK, Brown said the city would move ahead with earlier plans to shut down the Saratoga.
Of course, Hatch's opinion would be moot if Stewart's ordinance passes.
Second District Councilor Greg Gilbert said he hadn't read Stewart's ordinance yet, so had no opinion.
"I hope it's well thought-out," Gilbert said. "Otherwise this can turn into a real mess. There are a lot of landmines out there on this one."