Two words on a red sign sparked a tempest of rumor in Richland on Friday.

The words were “adult entertainment.”

A city official had taped the sign on the window of the old Samovar Russian Restaurant on the Jadwin Avenue side of the Uptown Shopping Center. It announced the business proposing to locate there couldn’t legally open until the owners explain what those words mean.

Bryan Watts, one of the owners, said it’s all a misunderstanding.

The Tabu Playhouse Ultra Lounge will be a restaurant and bar, Watts said. It may add nightclub to its moniker in the future, but it won’t be the strip club some people feared, he said.

“It is not anything to do with adult entertainment,” Watts said.

The confusion stems from the business license application filed with the Washington State Department of Licensing, Watts said. The Richland restaurant is only one part of the application and bears the same name as an adult entertainment business the company plans to open elsewhere.

Watts is the registered agent for Y.E.S. Group LLC, according to the Washington Secretary of State’s office. Y.E.S. Group applied for a Washington business license using the registered trade names E-Advisors, Tabu Playhouse From Mild to Wild Adult Entertainment Service, and Tabu Playhouse Ultra Lounge, according to the state Department of Licensing.

A self-described “adult entertainment co.” called Tabu Playhouse advertised for “male and female talent” in the help wanted section of Friday’s Herald.

Businesses can apply for state and city licenses at the same time using the licensing department’s Web site. The City of Richland is notified when someone submits an application. In this case, those two words — adult entertainment — caught the eye of Kevin Rex, Richland’s building inspections supervisor, because the Uptown isn’t zoned for such a business.

Rex posted signs at the business Thursday stating the city needs more information about what kind of business will be done at the Tabu Playhouse Ultra Lounge, including a clarification of what the business license application meant by “adult entertainment.”

City code defines adult use establishments to include movie theaters showing films or videos depicting specified sexual activities for a fee; commercial establishments featuring go-go dancers, strippers or male or female impersonators; and retail establishments that sell adult-oriented merchandise.

Businesses falling within that definition cannot operate in Richland, except in areas zoned industrial or C3 general retail, then only if more than 500 feet away from residences, schools, churches and parks, said Rick Simon, city development services manager.

The Uptown is zoned C2 retail business, and adult use establishments are banned there, Simon said.

The city also is asking for a detailed floor plan showing the proposed restaurant’s seating and kitchen and a written statement showing the building’s fire sprinklers are up to code, according to the letter.

Watts hopes to have those issues resolved with the city by Monday or Tuesday, but he remained emphatic the business will be the same kind of establishment that existed in the building before.

“We are not opening a strip club in Richland,” he said.

This story was published Saturday, February 3rd, 2007, By Michelle Dupler, Tri City Herald staff writer