PLACENTIA : City to Weigh Zoning of Personal Services

The City Council today will consider whether to allow massage establishments and tattoo parlors to operate in the town center, the main business corridor through the city.

The Planning Department last month recommended confining such “personal service establishments” to other parts of the city. Personal services would include massage and tattoo, acupressure, acupuncture and other similar businesses.

However, the planners’ proposal was challenged when it went before the council by a massage therapist, who said that it would force her business away from chiropractic and medical offices.

Sherry Hershey said she receives most of her clients from physicians and chiropractors. And a spokesman for the owner of a retail center in the town center said a massage therapist would be compatible with the medical offices located there.

“I resent being lumped together with tattoo parlors,” said Hershey, a licensed massage therapist. “I have to go through extensive training to be licensed by the state.”

As a result, the ordinance was modified. The proposal before the council would allow all such business to locate in any commercial zone, provided they receive a conditional-use permit.

The town center includes the area surrounding City Hall and the shopping centers at Yorba Linda and Kraemer boulevards.

These areas are seen as gateways to the city and are zoned for traditional retail and professional businesses.