By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorA controversial bar owner is closer to opening a bar and grill in downtown Warrenton.Verlin Gibson, who operated a dance club and night club called Kickers in Warrenton in the early 2000s, was granted a conditional use permit Jan. 7, by the Warrenton Board of Aldermen to open Cadillac Bar and Grill at 108 East Boonslick. The vote was 5-1 in favor of granting the permit. John Cornell was the lone no vote and Jim Dreyer was absent.The Warrenton Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-3 to grant the permit at its Jan. 2 meeting.Gibson's next hurdle will be his application for a liquor license, which is due before the board of aldermen Jan. 21.The previous business at that location, Mad Dogs Sportsmen's Bar and Grill, closed in September 2012. Because the business had been vacant more than six months it was required to go through planning and zoning for conditional use approval, said Jack Hanff, city zoning officer.No changes are proposed to the existing structure or parking area.Gibson told the planning and zoning commission that his bar and grill would have food, pool table, karaoke and maybe a DJ and band.Gibson told the commission that “what was going on in there [at Mad Dog Sportsmen's Bar and Grill] before would not be going on.” He said people would take motorcycles inside Mad Dogs. “I had to put in all new carpeting and have the floors filled because they dug all the way to the concrete through the tile with those motorcycles.”Gibson has operated bars and restaurants in Wentzville, including Kicker's and Palomino Nights and two bars in St. Louis city.Planning and zoning commissioner Scott Schoenfeld asked Gibson about his former Warrenton dance club. Gibson said girls danced at the club, but wore two-piece bathing suits. “There was no nudity at all,” he said.“I have some knowledge from your previous business that there was topless dancing going on there,” said Schoenfeld. “And employees selling illegal narcotics and prostitution operating out of your business.”Gibson said: “If that were the case Warrenton would have been in on me so fast, they never took my liquor license. I never had one problem with Warrenton when I was over there. As for drugs, if it were done it was unbeknownst to me. If there were prostitution, there could be that at any bar. When they leave there at 12:30, you can't control them girls. I never saw no topless down there, to my knowledge.”Gibson said there were some female dancers that he was afraid of.Schoenfeld asked if Gibson's St. Louis bar was known for pantless parties? (The bar's ad in The Riverfront Times once proclaimed: "Every night's a pantless party.")“No. That's what was in that Riverfront Times. But no,” said Gibson.Schoenfeld, a lieutenant with the Warren County Sheriff's department, said his undercover investigators bought narcotics in Gibson's bar.“Not from me,” Gibson said. “I have never been involved in that. I don't tolerate that.”Schoenfeld said the sheriff's department investigated narcotics sales at the bar and the Warrenton Police Department investigated complaints about topless dancing. “To my knowledge the activity continued till the bar stopped operating.”Asked why he closed the bar, Gibson said, “To be honest my lease ran out and my son got into trouble up here and I had to get him out of town.”Gibson said he would likely employ two cooks, two bartenders, a bouncer, but no waitresses at the beginning.Gibson said he would be open for lunch and close at 1:30 a.m. Monday through Saturday.The majority of the planning and zoning commission agreed that there were laws on the books to handle criminal behavior and no additional zoning conditions were required for the operation of the business. The board of aldermen opted to take the recommendation of the planning and zoning commission.Video of planning and zoning meeting here.City okays permit for downtown bar