MORGAN HILL
– South County’s latest couple-swapping swingers club – The
Arena located in unincorporated Morgan Hill – will likely be forced
to close its doors by September, a county zoning investigator said
today.
MORGAN HILL – South County’s latest couple-swapping swingers club – The Arena located in unincorporated Morgan Hill – will likely be forced to close its doors by September, a county zoning investigator said today.
Charging guests for Internet-promoted “lifestyle” parties in a ranch-style home on the southeast corner of Hill Road and Barrett Avenue every weekend night since June 6, the club continues to agitate nearby residents, who originally contacted county zoning regarding the legality of operating a private club in a neighborhood zoned for residential and agricultural use only.
“The paperwork is not all in, but my guess is that (The Arena) will be asked to get out of Dodge,” said Jim Lanz, the Santa Clara County zoning investigator handling The Arena’s case. “It will be very difficult for them to obtain a permit for a private club.”
Lanz’s comments come following a busy weekend of “lifestyle” club activity in South County.
Morgan Hill police were called to the Residence Inn Hotel north of Cochrane Road and Madrone Parkway shortly before midnight on Friday to break up a party promoted by Adult Forum Social Club Owner Deena Luce, according to the Morgan Hill Police Department records.
According to the report, Luce had been contacted several times by the hotel manager about excessive noise coming from her suite in room 110.
When police arrived, nearly all of the guests in Luce’s suite left, but Luce was uncooperative and escorted out of the hotel by police.
Luce was not ticketed, but fellow hotel guests report seeing her collecting money at the door.
“We saw probably 50 people go into her room, and she was collecting money from all of them,” said Michelle, a Salinas resident staying in a room down the hall from room 110 on June 18 who recognized Luce from reading about the Forum Club in The Dispatch. Michelle asked that her last name not be used for fear of retaliation.
“It was a crazy scene,” Michelle said. “At one point, there was a naked woman running down the hall with what looked like a tequila bottle, and a man had to grab her back into the room.”
Luce – who is not associated with The Arena swingers club – operated her Adult Forum Social Club from a Dryden Avenue home in unincorporated Gilroy until February, and previously ran the club from a rented house on south Monterey Road in Gilroy. Since February she’s been promoting parties at San Jose hotels, according to the Forum’s Web site.
Luce’s gatherings in South County drew up to 100 guests per night from throughout the Bay Area, and she charged as much as $75 for couples and $50 for singles.
She accumulated 20 citations from the city of Gilroy for operating without a business license and violating zoning laws, but eventually reached an agreement to pay only $1,500 in fines and drop a First Amendment lawsuit against the city.
Luce declined to comment for this story, but zoning investigator Lanz said operators of The Arena – whose names he declined to release – likely will be forced to move their business to area hotels, too.
Lanz said he received a call from The Arena’s operators two weeks ago stating that they think county bylaws permit a private club to operate on the 5-acre lot at 16220 Hill Road owned by Hong and Emily Chen of Cupertino.
Lanz’s told The Arena operators they must apply to the county zoning commission for a zoning permit by the end of July. The application ruling will take approximately two weeks to complete, Lanz said.
If the zoning request is approved – an outcome Lanz calls “doubtful” – The Arena must then apply for a business or private club permit. If it is denied, The Arena will be given a 30-day notice to cease its operations, and the Chens will be contacted and fined if the operation continues.
Emily Chen, who has poor reputation among South County residents for haphazardly relocating uprooted houses to many of her local land lots, hung up the telephone when contacted by a Dispatch reporter on numerous occasions.
“Right now the club operators are being cooperative and trying to work within the county process,” Lanz said. “We’ll continue to investigate until we’re satisfied no zoning regulations are being ignored.”
The closure of The Arena can’t come fast enough for neighbors.
Karen Turnlund said she is satisfied with the county’s effort to enforce zoning code against The Arena but wonders if The Arena is taking advantage of the situation.
“It seems like they’re riding the county bureaucracy through until they get kicked out,” she said. “They knew when they moved in that the neighbors wouldn’t stand for it, but they figured they had a few months to make as much money as they could.”
Staff Writer Marilyn Dubil contributed to this report.
