PLACENTIA : Decision Postponed on Massage Parlors

The City Council has postponed making a decision on an ordinance that would limit massage parlors to certain areas in the city after a massage therapist protested the plan.

The city had planned to keep businesses offering “personal services” such as massage, acupressure and tattooing out of the town center area and to require those businesses to get a special permit. According to Director of Development Services Joyce R. Rosenthal, several massage and acupressure establishments have been fronts for prostitution.

But Sherry Hershey, a licensed massage therapist, said that legitimate massage therapists, who are licensed by both the state and the city, would be hurt by such an ordinance. Because they get most of their referrals from the doctors’ offices and chiropractors in the town center, Hershey said, they too need to be located downtown.

“Illegal massage parlors don’t care where they are located,” Hershey said, “but legitimate massage therapists want to be where the chiropractors are--where the clients are.”

Town center refers to two areas set aside by the city for retail and professional businesses. It is more restrictive than other commercial zones because the areas are seen as “gateways” to the city.

Patrick Murphy, a real estate broker representing the owner of a business in the town center area, said that massage therapists blend well with the mix of businesses there. He said massage therapists should be required to get a permit but should not be banned from the town center altogether.

After hearing Murphy and Hershey, the council asked Rosenthal to determine how and if the city can allow licensed massage therapists in the town center and keep unlicensed ones out. The ordinance will be reconsidered in two weeks.