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Bonita Springs doesn’t want to end up on David Letterman’s TV show for shutting down a little girl’s lemonade stand.

The City Council backed off a pair of proposed laws on Wednesday, saying it doesn’t want to overregulate residents and businesses for the sake of issues that loom large in the minds of a handful of people.

“This is an urban area,” Bonita Mayor Ben Nelson said. “Not everyone is going to be just watching TV.”

The main focus of the city’s strategy came on the same issue that caused Naples City Council to dwell on scantily clad dancers at a sushi restaurant in its downtown: live entertainment.

“We have to be careful not to turn this into the city of no fun,” Bonita Councilman John Spear said.

“Human activity — music, laughter — can sometimes be heard beyond physical property lines, and there ought to be some balance with that ... and a very few individuals that don’t want any noise to cross property lines.”

Bonita’s live entertainment ordinance was ultimately rejected by City Council on Wednesday, saying the extra regulation wasn’t needed on top of the noise ordinance. The new ordinance would have required businesses to get a live entertainment permit every year and was more restrictive of businesses near residential neighborhoods.

The Naples City Council, which has a live entertainment ordinance, pulled the permit for Sushi Thai Too when residents complained the restaurant had dancers on its bar. This came from a city that drafted a leaf blower ordinance, considered banning smoking on its beaches and, notoriously, shut down a girl’s lemonade stand because it didn’t have a permit.

“We are not old fuddy-duddies although some people think we are,” Naples Mayor Bill Barnett said.

If the Bonita ordinance passed, the Buffalo Chips restaurant, which has been honored for its live music and karaoke night, would have to shut down all its live entertainment because it is in a residential neighborhood, said owner Al Greenwood.

Bonita government could grant exceptions to allow some live entertainment, but it would have to offer so many exceptions that the ordinance would be rendered moot.

“We don’t need this law. We already have a noise ordinance,” Greenwood said.

Enforcement is the real issue when it comes to noise and disturbing the neighbors, Bonita Councilwoman Martha Simons said. Bonita could pass a million ordinances, but all it will do is force extra regulation on residents and businesses that were law-abiding to begin with.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Bonita Springs Code Enforcement need to be aware of the city’s laws when it comes to noise.

The Bonita City Council felt the live entertainment ordinance would have been punishing the many for the sins of the few. The main source of live entertainment complaints in Bonita came from the Windsor Road neighborhood about the Sneaky Pete’s, and that restaurant has been renovating to reduce the impact of its noise on the neighbors.

“(The ordinance) was an atomic bomb to solve a speeding ticket,” Spear said. “It was just way out of whack.”

Bonita Springs could have been subject to lawsuits for violating the First Amendment if the ordinance passed, City Attorney Audrey Vance said.

“This is probably overly burdensome,” Nelson said. “This is a bit of an anti-happiness ordinance.”

Although Naples has been criticized for being too curmudgeonly, when the city receives a complaint, it tries to balance the complaints against the overall entertainment value. The Sushi Thai Too dancers, for example, caused a stir because the live entertainment permit asked for only a disc jockey.

“Naples is definitely a fun city,” Barnett said. “We are not punitive by nature.”

Bonita, too, is still finding that balance between complaints and overregulation.

“For me, it’s timing,” Bonita Councilwoman Janet Martin said. “When someone is complaining that something is spilling over late into the night, that needs to be addressed.”

Bonita requires special event permits even for private residential parties, and the City Council has become more critical of applications, especially after residents of Bonita Beach complained about the noise and patrons from beach clubs on Little Hickory Island.

Bonita rejected permits requested by beach clubs for live music at an anniversary party and fireworks at a wedding reception.

On Wednesday, the council reviewed its special events law and backed off on some of the proposed regulations of those residential private parties.

Instead of requiring a permit for any party with 50 or more people with amplified music, the council is considering increasing that to 75 people.

“We don’t want to get into a process of overkill,” Nelson said.

Staff writer Tracy Miguel contributed to this story.