DOUGLAS - About once a year, Community Development Officer Mike Roy fields a call regarding city regulations on adult businesses.

Most of those calls came from out of town and are simply speculative, and Roy didn't count on any future actions. But recently a local resident presented a preliminary plan for an adult business idea, even including a proposed site. That fell through, but it was a wake-up call for city leaders.

Concerned that Douglas was essentially devoid of protections where adult or sexually oriented businesses are concerned, Roy approached City Administrator Bobbe Fitzhugh and the City Council about taking proactive steps - before it's too late, as has happened in other Wyoming communities.

"We wanted something on the books in case somebody did come in with a development plan for such a business," Roy said.

Alpine, for instance, has made recent headlines as town officials have attempted to shut down a bar featuring exotic dancers.

"We're sure we would have the same kind of uproar Alpine has," Fitzhugh said. "These steps are prudent."

While the city legally can't completely zone out sexually oriented businesses, it can "severely curtail" those enterprises, she said.

Roy agreed.

"You can't just zone them out of your city," he said. "They have a right to be there."

But a city can set the terms. Approved by the City Council, the new Douglas ordinance is simple, yet gives the city legs to stand on. Such businesses - including adult media stores, theaters, video arcades, sex shops, stores selling sexually oriented toys, and establishments with topless, nude or semi-nude dancing - must acquire conditional use permits before beginning operations. Those permits are decided on a case-by-case basis and involve public input.

In addition, sexually oriented businesses are only allowed in areas zoned industrial, and can't be located near churches, libraries, residential areas, schools, parks and recreation facilities. And no adult business can be located within 1,000 feet of another sexually oriented business.

The ordinance gives a little leeway to an existing business which does have some adult novelty products. In order to be classified as a sexually oriented business, an enterprise must offer adult products as a "significant aspect of its operation." Part of that definition would depend on a business's signage and advertising, Roy explained.

Despite the city's actions to control sexually oriented businesses, the peripheral area surrounding city limits and the county are without recourse. Converse County has no zoning laws, giving the commissioners little standing to deny such an enterprise. And businesses of many kinds, including at least one bar, adjoin city limits now.