Brunswick Town Center is one of three areas of the city being considered for allowing massage establishments as a conditionally approved business.Brian Lisik/special to cleveland.com
BRUNSWICK --- With language based upon that of surrounding communities, city council is considering several pieces of legislation that would regulate the zoning for, and operation of, massage parlors in the city.
"This has been developing over the past five or six months and has been vetted in our safety, building and building codes, and planning committees," City Manager Carl DeForest said of the three proposed ordinances regulating massage establishments and permitting their conditional use in the city's office commercial, general commercial, and Brunswick Town Center special planning district.
"This is similar to an ordinance adopted in Strongsville that has worked well for them and we have also had some issues here locally," DeForest said.
The first of the four ordinances would establish a chapter of the city's codified ordinances regulating massage establishments.
The ordinance defines a massage establishment as a business "having a source of income derived from the practice of massage," requires that employees be registered with the city, licensed as massage therapists or massage technicians, and requires that the business allow access for inspection by the city officials "from time to time during regular business hours." The ordinance also requires the establishment to have a business license, a certificate of occupancy and a conditional use permit; exempts physicians, nurses and barbers licensed under Ohio law; and bars minors and alcoholic beverages from massage establishments.
The remaining three ordinances would include massage establishments as a conditionally permitted use in the city's C-O office commercial, C-G commercial, and the main street district of the Brunswick Town Center SPD-2.
Each of the four ordinances was unanimously moved to second reading by council at its July 24 meeting. The second readings are scheduled for council's Sept. 11 regular meeting, following its August summer recess.
Background
The legislation was spurred in part by a police undercover operation in December 2016 that resulted in the arrest of two employees of Relax Massage Spa, 3321 Center Road.
While two employees, Yan Wang, 38, of Brunswick, and Yang Gao, 43, of Pico Rivera, Calif., were arrested, Relax Massage Spa remains open. Brunswick Police Chief Brian Ohlin said police were unable to prove that the owners of the business had any knowledge of the illegal activity.
At a City Council meeting in June, Ohlin pointed out that the city has no specific regulation addressing the operation of these type businesses.
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