Council takes precautions against ‘bikini baristas’

By Avani Nadkarni/of The Herald

After seeing neighboring cities like Puyallup and Bonney Lake struggle with so-called “bikini barista” coffee stands, Sumner City Council members decided to take a preemptive stand.

This past summer, a “bikini fireworks stand,” where women sold fireworks wearing bikinis, caught flack from residents and some council members.

Drive-in espresso stands in Puyallup and Bonney Lake have also caught similar flack.

“It’s just as a courtesy to our citizens,” Councilmember Steve Allsop said a few days after the study session. “The jurisdictions around us got caught by surprise (and) that was fair notice to us to get on it.”

Vinson said he looked at other jurisdictions to see what they were doing to combat the issue. He also spoke with the City Attorney of Bremerton, a friend of Vinson’s.

“(Bremerton) has in its code provisions prohibiting lewd conduct,” Vinson said. “It prevents the pasties and the thongs but it also makes it a crime for an owner to allow lewd conduct to occur on (their) premises. I presented (a similar ordinance) to the (Sumner) council.”

The proposed ordinance is strictly precautionary, Vinson stressed.

“There are no permits in the works (for bikini coffee stands), there’s been no rumors of permits,” he said. “I just think (council members) are wanting to be a little bit proactive instead of reactionary, which I think is kind of a good idea.”

Vinson also stressed that the ordinance takes the issue on from a criminal approach, not a land-use control approach.

“Council could have entertained some amendments to zoning code to say something like ‘drive-in businesses could be excluded from certain areas of the city’ but they didn’t do anything like that,” he said.

Although the bikini barista coffee stands were the reason behind creating the ordinance, Allsop said it will be helpful to the city in general.

“It doesn’t just say or target baristas, its a lewd conduct ordinance in general,” Allsop explained.

“Lewd conduct,” according to a memo sent to council by Vinson in which he gathered information from City of Bremerton and Pierce County codes, could include “public exposure of one’s genitals, buttocks or any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola” and “public urination or defecation in a place other than a washroom or toilet room.”

Allsop hopes the ordinance, which goes before council for voting at the April 19 regular council meeting, shows Sumner residents that the city is being foreward-thinking.

“I think the majority of our citizens would be glad to know we’re being proactive,” Allsop said. “I’m certainly in favor of it.”