As the county continues to step up the pressure on owners of the
property housing The Adult Forum Social Club, neighbors on Dryden
Avenue east of Gilroy have started to take the matter into their
own hands.
As the county continues to step up the pressure on owners of the property housing The Adult Forum Social Club, neighbors on Dryden Avenue east of Gilroy have started to take the matter into their own hands.
County Investigator Jim Lanz met with Ilyas Absar and Muhammed Irfan, the owners of the property at 2670 Dryden Ave., last week, and Lanz said they knew a sex club had been operating. However, Lanz told them it better not be running for long – or they would be paying the consequences from their own wallets.
“I met with Ilyas and Muhammed, and apparently I guess Muhammed is still a part owner of the property,” said Lanz, who had been trying to locate the property owners since early December. “They’re stuck. They can’t make this OK. I told them to take the proper legal action to make (the sex club) go away.”
The Forum, a partner-swapping sex club, left south Gilroy for the Dryden address Nov. 8 after receiving numerous city citations for operating a business without a license and being handed a temporary injunction in October. The Forum had operated just outside Morgan Hill in the county for a number of years before closing and moving to Gilroy.
Sex Club Owner Deena Luce is scheduled to appear in court Monday for the 20 citations the club received. The Forum is open from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights and charges $40 to $60 for entrance.
Lanz told Absar and Irfan to get an attorney to start the eviction process. The Forum signed a three-year lease on the property, Lanz said.
Lanz spoke with the owners’ attorney a few days after the meeting, but was told they would be switching to a different attorney with more experience with county land-use issues.
“From my perspective, that’s the position he’s in,” Lanz said. “He is really exposed, and he needs to do something. I want to hear from him … no, I want to hear from his attorneys that something is happening. I want to see his attorneys initiate some action.”
Absar refused comment on the issue.
Lanz said he does not plan to initiate citations at this point. Absar could be subject to $280 in fines per day based on two ongoing infractions, one for operating a private sex club on land zoned for agriculture and residential and another for a trailer without permits that apparently serves as a second or third dwelling unit.
“As long as it is reasonable progress, I’ll go with it,” Lanz said. “I am still trying to avoid legal action.”
Representatives from different county departments plan to meet next month to share information about what is going on with the sex club.
“It sounds like they are planning a meeting with the county people and the neighbors for sometime during the first week of February,” Lanz said. “Everybody wants everybody else to know what is going on.”
Lanz added that he thinks neighbors at Dryden will be invited to the meeting.
“Basically, I see me sitting in front of a room of people asking ‘What is happening?’ ” he said. “And I will tell them that I am approaching it like I would any other land-use issue.”
While some neighbors may be waiting to hear from the county to get information about the sex club, others are looking for it themselves.
