Laserfiche WebLink
Item No: 07A <br />Meeting Date: March 26, 2012 <br />Type of Business: Public Hearing <br />Administrator Review: ________ <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br /> <br /> <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate <br />Item Title/Subject: Public Hearing, Introduction and First Reading of Ordinance <br />870, a Code Amendment to Allow Therapeutic Massage as a <br />Home Occupation <br /> <br />Introduction: <br />At a City Council meeting in October, a resident asked the Council whether they would be <br />willing to amend the City Code to be more permissive toward allowance of “massage therapy” <br />as a home based business in Mounds View. The City Council then discussed the idea at their <br />November work session. The City Council supports amending the City Code, and asked the <br />Planning Commission to take on how this should be accomplished. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br />Massage Therapy is a licensed business activity in Mounds View. The regulations pertaining <br />to massage therapy can be found in Chapter 514 of the Mounds City Code, originally adopted <br />in 1996 via Ordinance 583. There are many licensing and zoning requirements associated <br />with such a business and they are expressly permitted only in the B2, B3 & B4 commercial <br />business zoning districts. Such a use is not permitted in a residential zone or as a home- <br />based business, as indicated in Section 514.10, Subd. 2, regarding locations ineligible for a <br />therapeutic massage license. This clause reads, “A therapeutic massage enterprise may not <br />be licensed if the location of such enterprise is not in conformance with Title 1100 of the <br />Mounds View Municipal Code.” <br /> <br />The Planning Commission discussed several options about how to amend the City Code to <br />allow massage therapy as a home based business. The Commission finally agreed that the <br />only additional requirement should be approval from the property owner if the massage <br />therapist is not the property owner of the home where they live and will conduct the business. <br />Since there are no requirements for any other type of home occupations, the Commission felt <br />that massage therapy should not be singled out. The Planning Commission voted 5-0 on <br />Wednesday, March 21, 2012 to recommend approval of the language in Ordinance 870. <br /> <br />Recommendation: <br />Review Ordinance 870 with the proposed City Code amendments, take testimony from staff <br />and hold the public hearing. <br /> <br />Respectfully submitted, <br /> Heidi Heller <br />Planning Associate <br /> <br />Attachments: <br />1. Ordinance 870