Ordinance No. 945 - An Urgency Ordinance of Adopting a Citywide 45- Moratorium on the Issuance of Any New Permit, License, Approval, or Entitlement Pertaining to New Massage Establishments or the Relocation of Massage Establishments ORDINANCE NO. 945
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF ROSEMEAD, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING A CITYWIDE
45- MORATORIUM ON THE ISSUANCE OF ANY NEW PERMIT,
LICENSE, APPROVAL, OR ENTITLEMENT PERTAINING TO
NEW MASSAGE ESTABLISHMENTS OR THE RELOCATION OF
MASSAGE ESTABLISHMENTS.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ROSEMEAD ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Findings.
A. The City of Rosemead ("City") has adopted a General Plan, including strategies
to invigorate the City's Prosperous Community as well as its Well-Planned and
Designed Community; and
B. Protection of public health, safety and welfare is fully articulated in the General
Plan; and
C. State law requires that the City's zoning ordinance, found at Chapter 17 of the
Rosemead Municipal Code ("RMC"), conform with the General Plan's goals and
policies; and
D. In 2008, Senate Bill 731 ("SB 731 ") was adopted by the Legislature and signed
into law by the Governor; it became effective on January 1, 2009 and is to sunset
on January 1, 2015. SB 731, which enacted Section 4600 et seq. of the Business
and Professions Code, 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," formerly the Massage Therapy Organization). Certificates
issued by the CAMTC to qualified applicants entitle the holder to practice
massage therapy anywhere in the State, without the necessity of complying with
certain local rules; and
E. In 2011, Assembly Bill 619 ("AB 619") and in 2012, Senate Bill 1238 ("SB 1238")
amended various provisions of Business and Professions Code Section 4600 et
seq., further limiting the City's ability to regulate massage establishments; and
F. The state laws had the unintended consequence of resulting in a proliferation of
massage establishments throughout California, many of which were or are
believed to be fronts for prostitution and/or sex or human trafficking; and
G. In September 2014, the Governor signed Assembly Bill 1147, which returns to
local governments the authority to more strictly regulate massage
establishments. The new law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2015,
authorizes cities and counties to enforce their zoning requirements on massage
establishments, even if the same requirements do not apply to other professional
service providers; and
H. The City Council finds that current state law, with its significant limits on local
land use control of massage, has resulted in an alarming increase in the number
of massage establishments in the City; and
I. The City Council finds that in 2008, the City had 1 massage establishment and
currently has 13 such establishments; and
J. The City Council finds that 7 of these businesses, or 54% of all massage
establishments, lie along Valley Boulevard, one of the City's primary commercial
corridors; and
K. The City Council finds that city staff regularly receives complaints of suspect illicit
activity occurring at massage establishments. Massage establishments therefore
require a higher level of scrutiny and enforcement than other businesses in order
to ensure compliance with local and state laws; and
L. The City Council finds that 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
M. The City Council finds that since 2012, the City has initiated action, whether
criminally or through the administrative citation process, against massage
establishment owners or operators; and
N. Though state law requires cities to treat massage the same as other professional
services, such as medical, dental, and law offices, massage businesses do not
conduct themselves like other professional service businesses, despite
certification by the CAMTC of their employees; and
0. The City Council finds that the oversaturation of massage establishments, a
number of which have been found in violation of the law, changes the character
of a neighborhood, causes blights and impacts quality of life and the local
economy by compromising public trust; and
P. The City Council further finds that with the passage of AB 1147, certain
provisions of the current massage ordinance, found at in Chapter 5.24 of the
RMC, 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 undertake a review of its
current massage regulations in order to determine how such regulations may
need to be revised in order to be consistent with state law while still providing
comprehensive regulations for the establishment, use and operation of
businesses offering massage services in the City, so that the public health, safety
and welfare remain protected; and
Ordinance 897 was adopted on May 11, 2010, imposing a moratorium on
massage establishments in order to allow staff to study the preemptive effect of
SB 731 and appropriately update the local ordinance. Section 65858(f) of the
California Government Code allows for additional moratoria relating to the same
matter provided that the new moratorium relates to an event, occurrence, or set
of circumstances different from the event, occurrence, or set of circumstances
that led to the adoption of the prior moratorium. A different event, occurrence, or
set of circumstances is present here. Since 2012, the explosive growth in the
number of establishments has resulted in a significant strain on City resources,
and the new state law, AB 1147, giving the city tools to more effectively deal with
negative associated impacts needs to be studied and explored.
SECTION 2. Moratorium on 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 Section
65858 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 45 days from the date of January 1, 2015, no permits,
licenses, approvals, or entitlements may be issued for new massage establishments or
the relocation of massage establishments as such terms are defined in RMC Chapter
5.24. In addition, no existing massage establishment may be expanded, whether by
means of additional space, construction of new facility, or by reconfiguration.
D. For purposes of this ordinance, "massage business or establishment"
shall have the same meaning as in Chapter 5.24 of the RMC.
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 Chapter 5.24 of the
RMC, which relate to the operating requirements for massage establishments and
massage professionals, shall remain in full force and effect with respect to existing
massage businesses.
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 this ordinance.
SECTION 3. Legal, Operational and Planning Study. The Community
Development Department and the City Attorney's Office are directed 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, 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 January 1, 2015 (with the sunset of SB 731 and effective date of
AB 1147) and will extend for a period of 45 days from this date 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 published in the manner required by law.
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 9th day of December, 2014.
Bill Alarcon, Mayor
City of Rosemead, California
ATTEST:
- oria, Molleda, City Clerk
City of Rosemead, California
APPROVED AS TO FORM
Rachel H. Richman, City Attorney
Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) SS.
CITY OF ROSEMEAD
I, Gloria Molleda, City Clerk of the City of Rosemead, California do hereby certify that the
foregoing Urgency Ordinance No.945 was duly and regularly approved and adopted by the
Rosemead City Council on the 9th of December 2014, by the following vote to wit:
Yes: Alarcon, Armenia, Clark, Low, Ly
No: None
Absent: None
Abstain: None
L3}alAc)r
Gloria Molleda
City Clerk