GREENSBORO -- A Greene County woman who has spent the past five years and about $25,000 remodeling a dance club off U.S. Highway 278 contends the Greene County Commission has made it unreasonably hard for her to open her business.

Diane Greene, who owns the yet-to-open Equinox Club, has tried for five months to navigate Greene County's pouring license application process. After receiving a business license for a nightclub in July, the commission refused to vote on her first application for a pouring license because she had listed that she wanted the pouring licenses for a nightclub -- a category that unbeknownst to her is not recognized in the county's alcohol control ordinances.

The ordinance specifies that pouring licenses only can be supplied to restaurants and private clubs, according to County Manager Byron Lombard.

Private clubs must charge membership dues or have some way to restrict membership, Lombard said. Restaurants must receive at least 40 percent of their revenue from food sales, he added.

Last week, Greene applied for beer-and-wine and liquor pouring licenses under the restaurant category.

The commission is scheduled to vote on her second set of applications at its regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. today, Lombard said.

Commission Chairman Zippy Duvall said that despite Greene's complaints, officials are handling her license applications properly.

"It's just going through the process," Duvall said. "It hasn't been denied and it hasn't been approved. It's in the process." But Greene operated a similar business, called Club Connection, and said she received pouring licenses from 1998 to 2000.

Greene said that she had pouring licenses in the past under the category of nightclub and that she never has had this kind of trouble. The application process for a pouring license involves a review of whether the business meets county requirements, such as whether the business will receive at least 40 percent of its revenue from food, and a background check on the applicant.

Greene hopes to open her club on weekends and rent it out for special occasions, which would include catering food and alcohol for the event, she said.

Greene said she does not understand why another nightclub on U.S. 278, Club 278, received a liquor license on Oct. 6, shortly before the commission asked her to resubmit her application. Greene said Club 278 is a nightclub similar to what she has planned for Equinox.

Lombard said the difference is that Club 278 is a private club according to its liquor license, and not a public nightclub.