NEWPORT BEACH : Massage Shop Rules Get Initial Approval

After months of discussions, the City Council this week unanimously gave preliminary approval to new regulations for massage shops and voted to repeal the year-old moratorium on them, but not all shop operators were satisfied with the decision.

Assuming the new ordinance gets final approval at its second reading in two weeks, it will restrict locations where the shops can operate and will not allow them within 500 feet of another shop, school, church or civic center. All existing shops will need a use permit to operate, which in effect will prove that they are legitimate businesses operating in compliance with the new ordinance.

Opponents said the new plan continues to link massage shops to prostitution operations, which often use the businesses for fronts, and harms and punishes legitimate massage operators. But city officials said the ordinance is an attempt to curb prostitution in the city after police investigations last year showed that about half of the city’s massage shops were fronts for prostitution.

“I support the concept of a use-permit process if it will separate massage establishments and fronts for prostitution,” said John V. Black, a massage establishment operator in the city. But he added that the city should make further efforts to crack down on prostitution instead of targeting all massage parlors.

Shops with a use permit will be allowed in certain areas zoned for light commercial or residential use, areas that had been excluded under previous ordinances. Use permits in the city typically cost about $900, but the city has said they will cost $200 for existing massage shops.

Shops that do not comply with the new regulations will be forced to cease operations within one year. Appeals for an extension will be heard by the city Planning Commission.

The new ordinance will also repeal the year-old ban on new shops when it goes into effect in 30 days. The ban had been in place to give the city staff a chance to study the growing prostitution problem without the continued proliferation of new shops.

Currently there are 43 licensed massage shops operating in the city, more than in any other city in the county. The new ordinance will affect 27 of them.

Council members pointed to months of public hearings and meetings between city staff members and massage shop operators and questioned why some massage owners felt dissatisfied with the outcome.

City Atty. Robert Burnham said the city has no hidden agenda: “The use permit is not going to be an impediment to those legitimate establishments.”

Council members said massage shop operators who still have concerns will have an opportunity to address the council again at the ordinance’s second reading.