ARCHIVES

ARCHIVES

Massage parlor restrictions delay code changes

By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

Arroyo Grande Municipal Code amendments to decrease Village restaurant parking requirements, increase beauty salon parking requirements and increase massage parlor regulation are on hold at least until March.

The Planning Commission last week supported proposed changes to parking requirements for restaurants and beauty salons but had concerns about how massage parlors might be regulated, said Rob Strong, community development director.

As a result, the commission plans to reconsider the massage parlor regulations at its March 4 meeting before sending a recommendation on the entire package to the City Council.

Under the proposed changes, restaurants and bars in the Village mixed-use and Village core zoning areas would have to provide one parking space for every 300 square feet of customer space.

That’s a reduction from the current requirements of one parking space for every 100 square feet of customer space.

“The staff wanted to encourage more restaurants in the Village core and Village mixed-use areas without hitting them with the in-lieu parking fee,” Strong explained.

The reduction is based on the presumption that Village restaurant customers are often pedestrians who use public parking areas, public transportation and bicycles, and the parking requirements were preventing new restaurants from opening in that area.

On the other hand, the plan calls for increasing the parking requirements for beauty salons.

In addition to the one parking space now required for every 300 square feet of customer space, beauty salons also will have to have one parking space for every three operators.

Strong said the city’s parking committee recommended the changes because salons with multiple operators can have a number of customers waiting, in addition to those in their chairs, which can create a “tremendous parking demand.”

But commissioners had a problem with the staff’s recommendation that massage parlors — currently classified as “personal service” — be reclassified as “restricted personal service,” much like tattoo and body-piercing shops.

“The police chief and city manager pointed out how Southern California is being inundated by massage parlors,” said Strong, and many are operated by recent immigrants and are hard to police.

“The commission wants to look at all the ways of addressing massage parlors,” Strong said, adding the police chief was asked to make a presentation on the issue March 4.

He noted a “significant number” of massage parlors are scattered around the city, and all will be notified of the potential restrictions and the March 4 meeting.

“There are more than half a dozen to a dozen massage parlors proposed, and there’s some concern about how intense and concentrated they become,” Strong said.

He said although the Police Department conducts background checks when massage parlors open, operators can change and they become difficult to monitor and police.

The proposed restrictions on massage parlors would not apply to those associated with medical offices or health and fitness facilities, he said.

mhodgson@theadobepress.com