HomeMy Public PortalAbout14) 8A ADOPTION OF URGENCY ORD. 15-1001TO EXTEND F MORATORIUM ON MASSAGE ESTABLISHMENTSCity Council
March 17, 2015
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As noted in the attached urgency ordinance, staff believes that the proposed moratorium
is necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. As described in the
recommended ordinance, a massage establishment for purposes of this ordinance
includes establishments where massage is a primary use or an accessory use. Massage
includes acupressure and reflexology. The recommended ordinance does not preclude
the continued operation of lawfully existing massage establishments.
To ensure that no new or relocated massage establishments are approved that may be
inconsistent with the new regulations, staff recommends that the City Council extend the
moratorium by adopting Urgency Ordinance No. 15-1001 pursuant to the above
provisions. As noted above, such an ordinance would be effective for ten months and
fifteen days. Staff believes this should be sufficient time to prepare massage
establishment regulations for Planning Commission and City Council consideration. If
additional time is required, Section 65858 allows the City Council to extend the
moratorium up to an additional year.
CONCLUSION:
The Temple City Municipal Code needs to be updated to provide adequate regulations
for massage establishments. While new regulations are being contemplated, it is
necessary and appropriate to extend the existing moratorium on new or relocated
massage establishments to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. A moratorium
will ensure that no new or relocated massage establishments are constructed that may
be inconsistent with the new regulations.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Extending the existing moratorium would not in and of itself have any impact on the Fiscal
Year 2014-15 City Budget. Staff will work with the City Attorney's Office to prepare
regulations for massage establishments, which will incur costs for the City Attorney's time
and indirect costs in the form of staff time and resources. However, these costs would be
incurred even without the proposed moratorium.
ATTACHMENT:
A. Urgency Ordinance No. 15-1001
ATTACHMENT A
URGENCY ORDINANCE NO. 15-1001
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF TEMPLE CITY, CALIFORNIA, EXTENDING A MORATORIUM
ON THE ISSUANCE OF ANY PERMIT, LICENSE, APPROVAL, OR
ENTITLEMENT PERTAINING TO NEW MASSAGE
ESTABLISHMENTS FOR A PERIOD OF 10 MONTHS AND 15
DAYS.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF TEMPLE CITY ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings.
A. Pursuant to Government Code sections 36937 and 65858, the City Council of the
City of Temple City ("City") has adopted Ordinance No. 15-999 as an urgency
measure to establish a moratorium on the issuance of any permits, licenses,
approvals, or entitlements for new massage establishments or the relocation or
expansion of any existing massage establishments (the "Interim Ordinance"). The
Interim Ordinance, by law, is effective for only 45 days and is therefore set to expire
on March 20, 2015.
B. Pursuant to Government Code section 65858, the City may, after notice and a
public hearing, extend the Interim Ordinance for an additional 10 months and 15
days.
C. The factual basis for extending the moratorium includes the following:
1. The City has adopted a General Plan to ensure a well planned and safe
community; and
2. Protection of public health, safety and welfare is fully articulated in the
General Plan; and
3. State law requires that the City's zoning ordinance, found at Title 9, Chapter
1 of the Temple City Municipal Code ("TCMC"), conform with the General
Plan's goals and policies; and
4. In 2008, Senate Bill 731 ("SB 731 ") was adopted by the Legislature and
signed into law by the Governor. SB 731 enacted Section 4600 et seq. of
the Business and Professions Code ("Massage Therapy Act"), which
preempted many local controls relating to massage therapy. Significantly,
the law shifted local regulation of massage therapists and practitioners to a
newly created entity known as the California Massage Therapy Council
("CAMTC"). Certificates issued by the CAMTC to qualified applicants entitle
Ordinance No. 15-1001
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the holder to practice massage therapy anywhere in the State, without the
necessity of complying with certain local rules; and
5. Subsequently, in 2011 and 2012, Assembly Bill 619 and Senate Bill 1238,
respectively, amended various provisions of the Massage Therapy Act,
further limiting the City's ability to regulate massage establishments; and
6. These state laws had the unintended consequence of resulting in a
proliferation of massage establishments throughout California, many of
which are believed to be fronts for prostitution and/or sex or human
trafficking; and
7. In September 2014, the Governor signed Assembly Bill1147, which returns
to local governments the authority to more strictly regulate massage
establishments. The new law, which became effective on January 1, 2015,
authorizes cities and counties to regulate the business of providing
massage services through local land use requirements, business licensing
schemes, as well as reasonable health and safety operational
requirements; and
8. The City Council finds that the amendments to state law that have occurred
over the past six years have resulted in an increase of public health and
safety issues associated with businesses that provide massage services;
and
9. Two massage establishments currently operate within the City. Both
opened in 2014 and are located approximately four blocks apart on Las
Tunas Drive, one of the City's primary commercial corridors; and,
10.A number of local massage establishments are advertised or reviewed
online in the adult entertainment section of backpage.com, rubmaps.com
and mpreviews.com, strongly suggesting illicit activity; and
11. Because of the ongoing indication of illicit activities at massage
establishments locally, it appears that massage establishments may require
different levels of scrutiny and enforcement than other businesses in order
to ensure compliance with local and state laws; and
12. The City Council further finds that with the passage of AB 1147, certain
provisions of the City's ordinances may conflict with the new state law. As
a result of the January 1, 2015 effective date of AB 1147, it is urgent that
the City continue to undertake a review of its current massage regulations
in order to determine revisions may be necessary in order to be consistent
with state law, while still providing adequate protection for the public health,
Ordinance No. 15-1001
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safety and welfare. The City requires additional time beyond the 45 days
to prepare, evaluate and adopt reasonable regulations regarding the
establishment and expansion of massage establishments within the City.
13. The absence of this ordinance would impair the orderly and effective
implementation of contemplated amendments to the TCMC, and any further
authorization to establish or expand massage establishments within the City
during the period of this moratorium may be in conflict with or may frustrate
the contemplated updates and revisions to the TCMC.
D. Pursuant to Government Code section 65858(d}, the City has issued a report
relative to the steps taken to alleviate the conditions that necessitated the adoption
of the Interim Ordinance, which report is incorporated by this reference.
E. The City Council finds that there is a current and immediate threat to the public
health, safety, and welfare based on the above findings, and upon that basis has
determined that an extension of the moratorium enacted under the Interim
Ordinance prohibiting the issuance of any permits, licenses, approvals, or
entitlements for new massage establishments or the expansion of any existing
massage establishments within the City is warranted.
SECTION 2. Extension of Moratorium on New Massage Establishments or
the Expansion of Existing Massage Establishments. The City Council orders as
follows:
A. The findings and determinations in Section 1 are true and correct.
B. Based on the foregoing, the City Council finds and declares there is a
current and immediate threat to the public health, safety or welfare and upon that basis
has determined that an urgency ordinance pursuant to Government Code Sections 65858
and 36937 is warranted and shall take effect immediately upon adoption by a four-fifths
(4/5ths) vote of the City Council.
C. For a period of 10 months and 15 days from March 20, 2015, no permits,
licenses, approvals, or entitlements may be issued for new massage establishments. In
addition, no existing massage establishment may be relocated or expanded, whether by
means of additional space, construction of a new facility, or by reconfiguration of existing
space.
D. For purposes of this ordinance, the following definitions apply:
1. "Massage business or establishment" shall mean any establishment,
with a fixed place of business within the City where any person engages in, conducts,
carries on or permits to be engaged in, conducted or carried on, for money or any other
Ordinance No. 15-1001
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consideration, the administration to another person of a massage, and also includes all
businesses or establishments where massage therapy is provided as an ancillary service
such as clubs, gyms, day spas and professional offices.
2. "Massage" or "massage therapy" shall mean any method of treating
the external parts of the body for remedial, hygienic, relaxation or any other similar
purpose, whether by means of pressure on, friction against or stroking, kneading, tapping,
pounding, vibrating, rubbing or other manner of touching external parts of the body with
the hands, or with the aid of any mechanical or electrical apparatus or appliance with or
without supplementary aids such as rubbing alcohol, liniment, antiseptic, oil, powder,
cream, ointment or other similar preparations commonly used in this practice and shall
include herbal body wraps. For the purposes of this chapter, "massage" or "massage
therapy" includes the techniques of acupressure and reflexology.
E. City staff is directed to study appropriate modifications to the City's massage
and zoning ordinances to reduce and/or mitigate negative secondary effects created by
the number, location and illicit uses of massage establishments. Pending the completion
of such studies and the adoption of an ordinance to establish appropriate operational and
zoning regulations, it is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health,
safety and welfare that this ordinance takes effect immediately. In the absence of
immediate effectiveness, massage establishment uses in the City may be in conflict with
regulations or requirements established with respect thereto.
F. For the pendency of this moratorium, all sections of Section 9-1 N-30(8) of the
TCMC relating to the operating requirements for massage establishments shall remain in
full force and effect with respect to existing massage businesses. The portions of Chapter
4-11 of the TCMC containing operating requirements for businesses providing
acupressure therapy shall remain in full force and effect with respect to existing massage
businesses providing acupressure, as "acupressure" is defined in Section 4-11-0-1 of the
TCMC.
G. This ordinance shall not preclude the continued operation of any lawfully existing
massage establishment uses which are not seeking to expand, convert, relocate or
otherwise change their use, or the opening or commencement of any massage
establishment uses as a new business for which all discretionary and nondiscretionary
approvals have been made prior to the effective date of the Interim Ordinance.
SECTION 3. Legal, Operational and Planning Study. The Development
Services Department and the City Attorney's Office are directed to continue to study and
analyze issues related to the establishment, permitting, and operation of massage
establishments within the City, and the potential impacts of such facilities on public health,
Ordinance No. 15-1001
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safety and welfare of the community, the desirability of such facilities in various zones,
and the extent of regulatory controls, if any, to impose on such facilities.
SECTION 4. Environmental Review. The City Council finds that this ordinance
is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections
15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect
physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as
defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title
14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the
environment, directly or indirectly; rather it prevents changes in the environment pending
the completion of the contemplated municipal code review.
SECTION 5. Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase
of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of
any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision will not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have
passed this ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or
phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of
the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 6. Effective Date and Duration. This ordinance is an urgency
ordinance enacted under California Government Code section 65858(a). This urgency
ordinance is effective upon adoption by a four-fifths vote of the City Council on March 17,
2015, and will extend the Interim Ordinance for a period of 10 months and 15 days from
the date of March 20, 2015 to February 4, 2016, at which time it will automatically expire
unless extended by the City Council in accordance with California Government Code
section 65858.
SECTION 7. Publication. The City Clerk is directed to cause this ordinance to
be posted or published in the manner required by law.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 17th day of March, 2015.
______________ ,Mayor
Ordinance No. 15-1001
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ATTEST:
Peggy Kuo, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM
Eric S. Vail, City Attorney