Lake Forest Planning Commission continues Hypnotique Wellness Center use-permit after applicant agrees to work with staff

The Lake Forest City Planning Commission on April 3 continued a public hearing on a conditional use permit for Hypnotique Wellness Center, allowing the applicant time to work with city staff on possible voluntary restrictions and clarifications.

The applicant, Brian McMillan, asked the commission to recognize his business as a “wellness center” rather than a conventional massage establishment and said the operation would initially be small — limited to himself, his wife and an uncle — with no massage tables and a closing time of 6 p.m. “We are not a massage establishment as you think we are. It's a wellness center,” McMillan said at the podium.

City planning staff cited the municipal code definition for massage, which covers “any method of pressure on or friction against or stroking, kneading, rubbing, tapping, pounding, etcetera of the human body,” and noted the definition includes work done with mechanical or electrical devices. Planning staff and the city attorney's office said that under the current Lake Forest municipal code the applicant's described services fall within the massage-establishment category and therefore require the conditional use permit and a massage license.

The commission discussed whether the code leaves room to differentiate services on a case-by-case basis and whether conditions could be crafted to limit certain activities. Planning staff said conditions may be imposed if they have a nexus to the use and are proportional; staff explained that applicants may also voluntarily propose restrictions for the commission's consideration. “If an applicant voluntarily says, hey, I'm going to be more restrictive than even what you, the commission, may place on me … we'd be entertaining that,” Planning staff said.

Commissioners and staff also reviewed enforcement and revocation procedures. Staff said revocation of a conditional use permit requires findings and a noticed public hearing and typically takes at least 60–90 days to process; staff noted a previous revocation matter had taken a longer, multi-step process.

After discussion, the commission voted to continue the public hearing to the regularly scheduled meeting on June 5, 2025, with the item to be re-noticed as a date-specific hearing. The commission directed staff to work with the applicant on possible amendments or voluntary conditions to the application so the item can return with clearer proposals for the commission to consider. The motion to continue passed unanimously.

Looking ahead, staff advised that if the applicant withdraws and amends the pending application, changes can be processed as an amendment to the existing application rather than a wholly new filing; staff also said a denial without prejudice could allow the applicant to reapply within the time limits set by code. The commission closed the public hearing for the evening and set a target of 60 days for follow-up work between staff and the applicant.

Clerical and procedural clarifications noted during the hearing included how the city classifies “massage” in the zoning code and that conditional use permits run with the land, meaning future tenants could exercise the same use rights unless the permit is conditioned more narrowly.

Commissioners and staff encouraged the applicant to work with planning staff to develop specific, voluntary limitations (for example, restrictions on massage tables or certain services) that the commission could consider as conditions of approval if the applicant chooses to pursue them. The public hearing was continued to June 5, 2025, and will be re-noticed.