A club or bar could someday go where Wesley’s Boobie Trap formerly operated in Bagley. But if it does, it will be without the zoning consolidation that owners asked the Jefferson County Commission to approve.

Commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to deny the zoning request, which would have provided parking for the site. Lashunda Scales abstained from the vote.

Following a public hearing in which two residents asked that the request be denied, Commission President Jimmie Stephens handed the gavel to President Pro Tem Joe Knight.

“I know that we don’t need to make a decision based on a fear of litigation,” Stephens began. “We want to make our decision based on the support of our citizens and what we feel is right to improve quality of life in Jefferson County.

“I’m not afraid to make this motion,” Stephens continued. “I have been in that litigation in other areas of the county and our county attorney has properly defended those and would work well to get that done. So, based on the transition to the community, traffic, proximity to church and school, I move that we deny the consolidation of this zoning.”

Urban planner Michael Morrison told commissioners that existing C-3 zoning on part of the property still would permit a bar, lounge or brewery where Wesley’s Boobie Trap, an adult entertainment establishment that closed in September 2024, had operated. “We’re just modifying what’s C-3 to cover that entire lot of record,” Morrison said in presenting the request. Owners had sought a C-5 zoning for adult entertainment but withdrew that request.

“They’re aligning the zoning boundaries with the lot lines so that they can get adequate parking,” Developmental Services Director Josh Johnson said. “If they were to come in today and pull the permit – which they have a right to do and to permit a bar – we want to make sure they’re not parking on the street in the residential area behind it. This is to make sure everything’s under one rooftop, basically. The utilities are cleaner, the permitting is cleaner.”

Residents Jane and Joe Chance of nearby Dora spoke in opposition to the zoning request. She said they had put up with night clubs in the area for years.

“We just do not need a bar out there,” Jane Chance said. “This is well known all over the county, maybe multiple counties. If this gets opened and on social media, it will draw people from a long way away. We really oppose it, and we hope you would deny this. (There is) a lot of noise, lot of gunfire, fights, ambulances, cars revving up late at night, drunks wheeling out on the highway. All of this we don’t need. We would like to develop, but we don’t need this kind of development.”

The Bagley establishment sits in District 3, which Stephens represents. He said the surrounding community has changed from the rural area it was decades ago, when the business came to be. “The area has really outgrown that type of establishment,” he said.

ACIPCO Incentives

The commission meeting began with the approval of economic incentives for American Cast Iron Pipe Company’s planned American for Life 2030 project.

Over the next four to six years, the company expects to spend $793.1 million to convert its furnaces to electric-fired furnaces, reducing emissions by more than 90%. The incentive package is valued at $320,000, based on the 80 jobs and the $114,000 annual wages presented by the company.