NEWPORT BEACH : Bans on Certain New Businesses Extended

Bans on new massage shops and tanning salons that offer lingerie fashion shows will continue for most of next year under extensions approved by the City Council this week.

City officials were told earlier this year that both types of businesses are sometimes fronts for prostitution. The bans would have expired early next month without the ordinances, which take effect immediately.

Despite protests from a potential tanning shop operator who said her business would not be a house of prostitution and should be allowed to operate, council members unanimously passed the ordinances on Monday.

LJX Inc. owner Luana Stone, who operates tanning salons with lingerie shows in Texas, argued that she was being unjustly punished for the illegal operations of other shops.

“Mr. Mayor, my business is legitimate,” Stone said. “It is innovative. It provides tanning with a little bit of entertainment and fun. But we only provide as much fun as the law allows. The city is defaming the character of my salon. I provide an honest business centered around an innovative idea.”

Stone also said city zoning and licensing officials told her last month that she was in compliance with city regulations and has the necessary permits to open her shop near John Wayne Airport on Jan. 7.

City Atty. Robert Burnham said Stone would be violating the ordinance if she opens.

“This ordinance is not directed at” a specific business operator, Burnham said. “The ordinance is based on this type of business and the impact it could have on the nearby property values as a secondary impact.”

The council’s extended ban on new massage shops came with approval from a number of massage shop owners who are working with the city to better regulate those businesses.

“It’s an unfortunate situation that there are a lot of practices in Newport Beach that are not, so to say, professional,” said massage shop operator John Black. He said he supports the moratorium if it would help clear the city of prostitution.

The city passed a ban on massage shops earlier this year when it was told that about half of its massage shops are fronts for prostitutes.

New rules for massage shops will be discussed at a public hearing next month, and city officials anticipate that they will reach a decision at that meeting, and would no longer need the ban. But they said they want to have it in place in case the vote is postponed.