The city council will look at suspending the rules covering nude dancing in Sioux City at their meeting tonight. Mayor Bob Scott says the action is related to an Iowa Supreme Court ruling. “Which basically says that cities can’t license dancers and dance establishments, and so what we’re doing is just putting a hold on our ordinance, we’re not going to enforce. And all the cities are going together and asking the legislature to clarify what the law should be and to allow us to continue to license those facilities,” Scott says.

Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the city of Hamburg that it cannot enforce an ordinance that prohibits a local business from allowing semi-nude lap dances because state law pre-empts the ordinance. The city in 2008 had passed a local ordinance that requires semi-nude dancers to remain more than six feet away from customers. The owners of a property that leases space to a place known as “Shotgun Geniez” sued the city. They claimed the ordinance eliminates lap dances — one of the major reasons patrons go to the club. The court found Iowa law pre-empts local obscenity ordinances and that nude dancing falls within the state’s obscene materials statute, which prohibits cities from regulating obscenity.

Scott says the ruling keeps cities from regulating nude dancing, “Because as it is now, if you don’t want to serve liquor, you can have nude dancing and call it a dance theater.” He says the Iowa Legislature would have to pass a new law to allow cities to enforce restrictions on nude dancing.