JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A recently opened restaurant and bar next to an Arlington charter school has changed its name but is still causing controversy.
Stilettos Steaks and Spirits, formerly known as Stilettos Gentlemen's Club, is adjacent to Duval Charter School off Atlantic Boulevard, separated only by a fence.
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The owner says his business is technically a restaurant, but he said he does have women dance on stripper poles inside.
That's a problem for John Lee, who's three children go to the nearby school.
"Anytime you get anything of that magnitude close to something as sacred as a school, it spells nothing but problems, you know," Lee said.
The city says Stiletto's was approved to open up as a restaurant under the name Maria's Steaks and Spirits, which is how it got around selling liquor 1,500 feet from Duval Charter School.
But the stripper poles set up inside tell a whole lot more. The owner said women dance on the poles in bikinis and work for tips, which the city says is not OK.
"If they're not a restaurant, then we would void that waiver of liquor distance, and so they'd need both the zoning exception and another waiver of liquor distance," said Sean Kelly, Jacksonville planning commission chief.
If the city deems Stilettos a nightclub, it would violate another ordinance.
"If it's a nightclub by the building code and the fire codes, they need to have a sprinkler system, which they do not have, and we would have to shut them down," said Tom Goldsbury, Jacksonville building inspection chief.
Installing a sprinkler system could cost the business $40,000.
But parents are more worried about the people a gentlemen's club often draws.
"It's the crowd. It's got to be the crowd," Lee said. "Because again, it's all about the safety of the students and the parents, everyone on the faculty who were here on the premises first. I mean, that has to be the primary concern."
The city said it needs to investigate Stilettos on its own, and if the owner is, in fact, operating a gentlemen's club, it could be shut down.
"They would be basically issued a warning citation at first and given a time to bring it into compliance," Kelly said. "They should not be doing that use at that location."
The owner of Stilettos said he spent $5,000 putting up a fence so school children can't see what's going on, but Lee said the establishment needs to move elsewhere.
"Yeah, they have to relocate. They got to," Lee said.
The owner of Stilettos said he's trying to appease everyone, but he said he will go to jail over this and battle it out in court if he has to.