But elected officials say the decision to reconsider city SOB laws is not targeted specifically at the haircutting chain. It's simply a matter of updating the city code.

"Bikini Cuts is not the impetus for this," said Councilwoman Midge Johnson, noting the salon is not yet a Provo business. "They've never made application and we haven't specifically dealt with them."

Bikini Cuts has branches farther north, in Sandy and West Jordan, where bikini-clad stylists give $25 haircuts to a mostly male clientele.

In April, Bikini Cuts CEO Mike Fuller ruffled local feathers when he announced to Provo's City Council his interest in expanding to Utah County, and possibly Provo.

Fuller has maintained his business is not sexually oriented, and shouldn't be in the same category as strip clubs, adult-entertainment businesses and massage parlors.

Council members aren't sure the ordinance changes would affect the hair salon if it were to come to the city. In a study meeting Tuesday, the council learned new constitutional options in curbing the secondary effects of adult companies, and now are looking to tweak their related city ordinance in a council meeting set for Aug. 9.

"We realize there are businesses you can't keep out, which is fine," Johnson said. "But you can regulate the secondary effects. In our community, that is something important."

Those secondary effects, presented to the council by Tennessee consultant Scott Bergthold, include increased crime, decreased property values, health issues, and increased drug use. He presented the information by telephone during the study meeting.

"Everybody has their own personal morals about the sexually oriented-business industry," he said. "But in the law, the opinions that we have are not as important as the evidence that we have: Sexually oriented businesses are associated with a wide variety of adverse secondary effects."

Council attorney Neil Lindberg said the city is looking to bring the ordinance in line with similar ordinances in Roy and Midvale, where city laws regarding adult businesses were challenged, and upheld by courts.

Lindberg wouldn't elaborate, but he said the city needs to "bring the ordinance into complete alignment with the newest case law. The ordinance we're working on will be very similar to those that were upheld."

Roy's ordinance, upheld by a U.S. District Court last year in the case Doctor John's Inc. vs. City of Roy, requires both operators and employees of sexually oriented businesses to have valid SOB licenses, limits operating hours from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., mandates appropriate lighting around the building and requires a no-loitering policy.

thollingshead@sltrib.com