A planned West Carson Street strip club will be the subject of a Pittsburgh City Council public hearing and a review by Controller Michael Lamb as officials continue to dissect a series of failures that led to a court win by the club owners over the city.

City Clerk's Office employees have approved petitions from residents angry at the prospect of adult entertainment at what they view as the gateway to the western neighborhoods. That means council must schedule a hearing.

Councilwoman Theresa Smith, who represents the area below Duquesne Heights where the club would sit, asked Mr. Lamb on Thursday to audit the city's handling of the club's application for planning approval. He agreed.

"There was either some kind of administrative breakdown, or there is a weakness in the [city] code," said Mr. Lamb. "We're just going to try and follow the paper trail and talk with people and see why this happened."

The paper trail starts with the application by Marquise Investments, led by Patrick Risha Jr., for the city's OK to operate the club at 1635 W. Carson St., a former medical office building. The building is in an industrial zone where adult entertainment is allowed, subject to planning commission and council approval.

The commission said no in November 2008, after residents argued that the club would affect the welfare of recovering addicts using the Onala Club next door. Planning and zoning staff should have then forwarded that recommendation to council, but didn't.

On March 9, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph James told city lawyers to have council hold a hearing. The errors that kept council from scheduling that hearing until Oct. 6 -- by which time it was too late -- have roiled city government.

In his first comments on the matter, former city Solicitor George Specter said he and Assistant City Solicitor Lawrence Baumiller called Deputy City Clerk Mary Beth Doheny on March 12, "and said, 'Have you scheduled it? Please schedule it right away.' She said she needed the documents from the Planning Department."

So they called Zoning Administrator Susan Tymoczko, sent her the judge's order, and told her to send council the paperwork on the club application. "It's my understanding they were not sent," said Mr. Specter, now general counsel for the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Ms. Tymoczko wouldn't comment Friday.

On June 12, Mr. Baumiller sent an e-mail to City Clerk Linda Johnson-Wasler asking whether the hearing was scheduled. She wrote back that council still hadn't received any triggering documents from the Planning Department or the mayor's office. He urged her to "schedule it soon after you receive it."

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration claimed in a timeline issued Tuesday that Mr. Specter had "numerous conversations" with then-Council President Doug Shields after the judge's order to hold a hearing. Mr. Shields has said he heard nothing about the need for a hearing until late July.

"There were not numerous conversations," Mr. Specter said, "but there was contact between us, in which I told him, 'This thing has to get scheduled.' "

Mr. Shields maintained that the city's lawyers did not properly inform council until late July. Council got legislation moving in early August, but its hearing was canceled after Judge James issued a Sept. 15 ruling. He subsequently allowed the club owners to proceed, in a decision that the city has appealed.

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