First Selectman: Gentlemen's Club Doesn't Fit in Windsor Locks

Although an application to transform Ella Grasso Turnpike's Pool Table Magic into a topless bar was shot down on a technicality last week, the application is expected to come before the town again.

Before it does, the Planning and Zoning Commission will consider whether to enact a moratorium on sexually-oriented businesses in town.

Monday night, planning commission members scheduled a public hearing for March 14, at which time residents and businesses owners can testify to whether they think such businesses have a home in Windsor Locks.

Last week, Planning and Zoning Commission members rejected Pool Table Magic owner Mark Kulungian's application to include topless dancers at the business because he submitted the incorrect application.

Regardless of the type of application filed, Windsor Locks First Selectman Steve Wawruck said Monday night that Kulungian's proposal isn't a good fit for the town.

"I don't feel, as a resident (of Windsor Locks), that it has any place in this town," Wawruck said after the planning commission's meeting Monday. "It just doesn't fit the character. It's not a part of the fabric of this town."

Wawruck continued, saying the addition of the proposed gentlemen's club could create a less-than-savory environment on the turnpike.

"There's 1,500 hotel rooms here in Windsor Locks. We're a mini-city, and with 1,500 hotel rooms, to put that type of establishment in the mix, it's just going to lead to other problems," Wawruck said.

Those problems, according to Wawruck, include prostitution, drugs and human trafficking.

A group of residents, known as Windsor Locks Citizens for a Safe Community (WLCSC), shares Wawruck's concerns and has started a campaign against any new adult-oriented busiesses.

Yet, not everyone is opposed to such a business being located on the stretch of road that leads to Bradley International Airport.

Reader Ted Everett wrote in the comment section of an article on Windsor Locks-East Windsor Patch that asked people to share their opinions of the proposal that such an establish might work in that area, if opperated responsibly.

"It's a source of revenue that is diverse to that area of service stations, fast food, and temporary lodging, yet, would cater to the temporarily lodged. It would employ the otherwise unemployable," Everett wrote.

"The facade, however, should be more understated, less suggesting of what commerce transpires within. If crime is the concern, crime is going to happen, at least it will be contained to a localized area. The authorities won't have far to go to thwart transactions of vices," Everett added.