MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Owners of a downtown club have posted signs promising nude dancing by the end of next month, but city officials, including the mayor, are saying “Not so fast.”

Omega Entertainment Complex says it will become a strip club August 26. The club is in the heart of Manchester, close to the Verizon Wireless Arena.

Mayor Frank Guinta says he has instructed city officials to look for ways to block the proposal.

“Residents can rest assured that as long as I am mayor of Manchester, this kind of business is and will not be welcome in our city,” Guinta said in a written statement.

Other officials, including the city planning director and the deputy clerk for licensing say the proposal probably would violate city ordinances enacted in the 1990s to discourage adult entertainment from coming to the city. One rule bars sexually oriented businesses from being within 500 feet of a residential area or recreational facility.

A decade ago, Manchester formed adult zoning regulations in response to worries that adult bookstores were coming to the city, Planning Director Bob MacKenzie said. The rules were meant to discourage them from coming and grouping in one area, he said.

Matthew Normand, deputy clerk for licensing and facilities, said Omega appears to fall within a residential buffer established by ordinance, likely making it ineligible to become a strip club.

“The first hurdle I can see is probably the zoning ordinance for them,” Normand said.

The ordinance bars a sexually oriented business from being within 500 feet of a residential area or a recreational facility.

Normand said city officials are investigating. The Planning Department, for instance, was measuring the distance between Omega and the closest residential area.

Normand also said the Verizon could be viewed as a recreational facility. City ordinance defines a recreational facility as an entity such as the YMCA or Boy and Girls Club where minors may congregate, he said.

City officials and Omega have long been at odds. Earlier this year, the club lost a bid to renew its liquor license, after Guinta and others lobbied against it.

Recently, Guinta criticized Omega for encouraging patrons to bring their own alcohol, something state law does not prohibit.