The Seattle City Council passed legislation Monday allowing strip clubs to open within city limits as long as they are distanced from schools, child-care centers, community centers and public parks by several hundred feet.

Proponents claim that these restrictions on the establishments' locations are reasonable and necessary, while opponents say they amount to a de-facto moratorium on creating new strip clubs anywhere in the city.

Every year from 1988 to 2004, the Seattle City Council has renewed a suspension on the creation of any new strip clubs in Seattle. A federal court ruled in 2004 that the ban was unconstitutional. However, the decision left City Council members with no rules or regulations regarding where adult cabarets could be located.

In response, Mayor Greg Nickels proposed a plan to create a red-light district for strip clubs in SoDo. Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck said the mayor's plan was "flawed and ill-conceived."

As the author of the new rules, Steinbrueck said that his plan is to disperse strip clubs across the city rather than congregating them all in one area.

Steinbrueck said there are thousands of locations across the city to potentially open a strip club.

Lucas Wunsch, a businessman hoping to open two adult cabarets in the U-District, said the new rules allow for no new cabarets.

"The U-District is completely out," Wunsch said.

As far as Stefanie Buurstra is concerned, the allowance for no new strip clubs is fine with her.

Buurstra will be a junior at the UW this coming fall and is the manager of Rocco's Bean and Bagel.

"I think the U-District has a bad reputation as being a dirty part of town," Buurstra said. "The UW is a prestigious college, but the neighborhood doesn't reflect that. Strip clubs would add to the dirt factor."

Many students had little opinion about the matter, however.

Student Chris Tucker said he wasn't aware of the city council's action Monday, but he was concerned that the city is putting too many restrictions on nightclubs.