This week, the Seattle City Council will consider establishing a zone for new clubs, forced to do so by a court ruling that overturned the city's 17-year moratorium on additional clubs.

Strip clubs can't be built near churches, parks, libraries, and things of that nature. So the mayor's office studied the maps, and found one area in town that meets all the criteria -- just south of Safeco Field and north of the Georgetown neighborhood.

Mayor Greg Nickels says he'd prefer all new clubs be built there, but people living near this zone say they're being singled out. They say their new zone will be known by a new name:

"An adult cabaret zone? That is a red-light district," said Robin Tomazic of the Georgetown Neighborhood Council. "A place where strip clubs can congregate in one area... that is a red-light district."

Tomazic says it makes the city's problem become their neighborhood's problem.

"Having our business district meet up with the new strip club zone would create a reputation that we were part of that zone," he said.

The neighborhood group worries that new clubs nearby will create back and forth traffic between strip clubs that don't sell alcohol and the bars and taverns in Georgetown.

But Nickel's office says this is the best option.

"The courts said that we have to be able to allow additional adult entertainment clubs, but we don't want them to be near schools, and playgrounds and libraries, so this is the area in the city that meets that criteria," said Marianne Bichxel with the mayor's office.

The proposed area is mostly industrial, but along the southernmost border of the proposed zone, people in Georgetown worry about their nearby parks, churches, and neighborhoods.

"Yeah, what do you say, when you come to my shop down here, 'You're going to pass about 5 strip clubs, and to the left at the sex offender housing,' " said Georgetown resident Holly Krejici. "It's not really the reputation we want."

Other resident Joanne Tilley added, "I'll have to take a different route to and from town; I don't want to drive through it with my son in the car."

Even if a zone is established, the mayor's office isn't too concerned about an influx of new clubs, because of the conduct rules they've set up - like florescent lighting in strip clubs, and the 4-foot rule.

But some of the people worry about the initiative on the upcoming ballot, to overturn those rules.

The council has a public hearing about the strip club zone Wednesday April 12 at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers.