Planning commission recommends new massage-establishment rules, adds adult-entertainment permitting changes

The Santa Rosa Planning Commission on Feb. 27 voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt a new municipal ordinance creating a city certification and registration process for massage establishments and to amend zoning permit requirements for adult-entertainment businesses.

Staff said the changes aim to reduce illicit massage activity while providing a path for legitimate massage businesses to register and comply. Gabe Osborne, director of planning and economic development, told the commission the proposed regulations “focus[] on the illicit nature that can occur in massage establishments” and are intended to give enforcement tools while allowing legitimate operators to comply and continue to operate.

The draft ordinance would move massage regulations from the current chapter in Title 6 into a new chapter (proposed Chapter 20-49) in the zoning code and land-use tables and would require establishment certification and CAMTC (California Massage Therapy Council) certification for therapists under current state law. Lou Kurt, assistant chief building official, described the proposal’s primary elements: state registration of therapists, a required city certification for establishments, operational standards and inspections, administrative adjustments at the director level, and a graduated enforcement structure ranging from warnings to certificate revocation.

Public commenters who identified themselves as local massage professionals and as…