An undercover police officer’s investigation has prompted the City Attorney’s Office to order the 2200 Club, a sauna and steam club for men, to halt operations due to violating city regulations which include operating an adult entertainment business.

On Jan. 24, the City Attorney’s Office sent a letter to John Barriage, the lawyer for the 2200 Club. The office informed him the 2200 Club is “currently operating in violation of the city’s Adult Entertainment regulations.”

The letter highlighted a police investigator’s observations during his undercover operation for the Neighborhood Code Compliance Department and noted that this was enough evidence to prove that customers are engaging in activities that classify the 2200 Club as an adult sexual encounter business under San Diego’s Municipal Code.

According to the investigator’s report, dated Dec. 2, an undercover detective had entered 2200 Club posing as a customer and observed a TV in a large room displaying male pornography while two males openly masturbated. The officer also observed other TVs throughout the club displaying the same pornography.

The letter stated, “The 2200 Club actively encourages sexual encounters on the premises by providing condoms to customers when they check in at the front desk.” The City Attorney’s Office went on to explain in the letter that sexual encounters are encouraged by paraphernalia such as cockrings and lubricants displayed at the front desk.

The letter explained San Diego Municipal Code section 141.0601(a) defines an adult sexual encounter business as an adult entertainment business and therefore the 2200 Club is subject to the provisions under that section which prohibits adult entertainment businesses from operating within 1,000 feet of any residentially zoned property.

Several houses, condominiums and apartment complexes surround the 2200 Club.

“Our office is committed to making sure neighborhoods and residents of those neighborhoods don’t have to live near incompatible uses and experience negative effects from those,” said City Attorney’s Office representative Diane Silva-Martinez. “The zoning laws are one tool to do that and in this case, zoning laws regulate where adult entertainment establishments can be, and they can’t be there.”

Barriage does not agree with the City Attorney’s Office opinion.

“Our position is that it is not adult entertainment and that bathhouses are not regulated as adult entertainment establishments,” said Barriage. “This venue has been used as a bathhouse for 22 years.”

Barriage recalled lawsuits brought against bathhouses in the late 1980s, which were later dropped by the city of San Diego. He said there have not been any problems concerning bathhouses until the 2200 Club had applied for a new license and was rejected.

According to Rodney Lorang, senior deputy county council at the San Diego County Health Department, the 2200 Club had initially applied for two permits in October. One permit was for a pool and sauna license, which was approved. The other permit was to operate as a bathhouse. Lorang said the health department issued a denial letter to Barriage and 2200 Club on Feb. 3.

Barriage said the process to deny the 2200 Club the bathhouse permit had lasted since October because the county health department claimed there were problems with the permit. “We think they were dallying on purpose,” said Barriage.

Lorang said the application process took some time due to obtaining additional information not originally submitted on the application, and explained a second inspection needed to be conducted after problems were found during the initial inspection of the property.

Lorang said they declined to re-inspect the building until the 2200 Club shut down since they were illegally operating without a permit. The county health department was then able to determine that the problems had been corrected during the re-inspection.

A third factor in the delay, Lorang noted, concerned the time it took to coordinate with the City Attorney’s Office on the zoning issue.

The 2200 Club is still in operation as of press time.

Lorang said that since the 2200 Club does not currently have the appropriate permit they should not be in operation.

“We have notified the applicant and attorney that the ongoing operation without a county health permit is illegal and that the appeal doesn’t entitle them to operate while the appeal is pending,” said Lorang. “It’s because they never had a permit. If they had had a permit then we would move to revoke it, then the appeal would stay.”