City Council inches toward booting adult businesses from Cheshire Bridge

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• GOODBYE, FAREWELL: Proposal would force adult businesses along Cheshire Bridge Road to move.

A pair of ordinances threatening adult businesses along Cheshire Bridge Road moved one step closer towards a final decision today.

Despite a negative recommendation from Atlanta's Zoning Review Board, City Council's zoning committee voted 3 to 2 in favor of two proposals that would boot adult video stores, strip clubs, and sex shops from the commercial district. As we've reported on over the past few months, nearby residents, business owners, and developers have tussled over Cheshire Bridge's future.

Councilmembers Alex Wan, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Carla Smith voted for the ordinances; while Howard Shook and Ivory Young went against the measures. Joyce Sheperd abstained.

Wan, who's taken plenty of flak over the ordinances, called the measures "the most significant" legislation he's championed and reiterated that his constituents backed his efforts.

"If we allow fear of litigation to guide our decisions in what we vote for, our city would grind to a halt," Councilman Alex Wan told Project Q. "The only people who oppose it are the adult businesses and the developers."

The two ordinances now will head to a full City Council meeting on June 3 in what could be a decisive meeting for the area. Stay tuned.