DESTIN — Patti Terjak isn’t putting out the welcome mat for her potential new neighbor: a strip club likely to be called The Runway.
Terjak isn’t alone. More than 60 people opposed to the business gathered at the Funky Blues Shack last week to talk about their options, or lack thereof.
Calling themselves Destin Residents Against the Adult Cabaret (DRAAC), the group is looking to attract momentum and stymie the Atlanta-based developers.
The two-story building at 908 Airport Road that could house the strip club is visible from Terjak’s house, but she learned of the plans only recently.
Terjak — a longtime Destin resident, business owner and mother — found out about it when a television crew armed with cameras and microphones came to her door to ask her opinion.
Her opinion? “I would rather the city rezone it somewhere more commercial, somewhere it isn’t visible from a neighborhood, on (U.S. Highway) 98 or somewhere,” Terjak said.
Carmen Stiles, who lives in Kell-Aire Gardens, agrees that a more commercial location would be better.
“I realize that some people don’t want this to come to Destin at all. I just don’t want it next door,” Stiles said.
The proposed adult cabaret returned to the headlines after last making waves in 2009. That’s when businessman Terry Stephenson battled Destin in court to have topless dancing allowed at The Oasis on Mountain Drive.
After mediation, The Oasis was prohibited from having topless dancing, but in return Destin was forced to allow adult entertainment in areas zoned for industrial use.
Stephenson was shot and killed in 2010 outside of a strip club he ran in Atlanta, but documents indicate his associates are behind the current effort.
At the residents’ meeting, some people suggested re-forming the Kell-Aire Gardens homeowners association in the hope that having a more formal neighborhood alliance would help in the fight.
Kelly Haeusler, a veterinarian whose office is on Airport Road, said she realizes there may not be any way to keep the club from opening next door to her clinic, but she wants the community to know about it either way.
Haeusler raised the issue of parking. Haeusler noted that for a building of that size (more than 5,000 square feet) serving alcohol, it must offer a certain number of parking spots. That could mean a smaller building, which could make the overhead too high in the long run.
“According to city ordinances, they have to provide a certain number of access lanes, stacking lanes, fire lanes and buffer lanes,” Haeusler said. “There just isn’t enough parking there.”
DRAAC members have formed Facebook.com/groups/DRAAC to keep the community aware of what’s going on. The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Funky Blues Shack.
The group also has created an online petition at change.org and linked it to their Facebook page. By Friday morning, it already had 200 signatures.
Shane Cannon, a Realtor and real estate developer, said urgency is needed if anything is to be done.
“Make a lot of noise,” Cannon told the crowd at the meeting. “The city can and will still hear your opinions, but you have to share them — quickly.”