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Item No: 7B Meeting Date: September 10, 2007 Type of Business: CB Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Jim Ericson, Community Development Director Item Title/Subject: PUBLIC HEARING, Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 798, an Ordinance Amending the Zoning Code Related to Therapeutic Massage Business Background: In response to what was then viewed as a deficiency to the City Code, the City Council adopted Ordinance 583 on September 23, 1996 putting into place detailed regulations and requirements relating to the licensure and operation of therapeutic massage businesses. Six years later, staff reviewed the issue of appropriate zoning locations with the City Council on November 4, 2002, after realizing that the enabling ordinance did not identify a specific zoning district or districts within which such a business could be operated, or if the use would be permitted outright or require a conditional use. The Council agreed that such a change was warranted, however staffing turnovers would ultimately result in no action being taken on the issue. Without a request to spur Council action, the issue was not brought back for Council consideration until now. Discussion: Over the years, the City has received inquiries from individuals interested in opening a massage therapy business and from residents asking about massage therapy as a home occupation. It is however only recently that someone has decided to pursue such an enterprise and submit an application to the administration department. The leasing agent for Silver View Plaza contacted staff about a new massage therapy business that would like to locate in their facility and asked whether such a use would be permitted. The ONLY stipulation governing the location of such a business appears in the Massage Therapy City Code Section 514.10, Subd 2, which states the following: Zoning Compliance: A therapeutic massage enterprise may not be licensed if the location of such enterprise is not in conformance with Title 1100 of the Mounds View Municipal Code. The Zoning Code is silent on such uses. As a result, staff brought the issue forward to the Planning Commission in July of this year. The Commission felt that given the detailed and extensive licensing requirements already in place in Chapter 514 of the City Code, a conditional use permit would probably not be necessary, and the Commission further suggested that such a use, being sufficiently similar to a Chiropractor office or a health and beauty clinic, would be appropriate in commercial districts beginning with the B-2, Limited Business District (Silverview Plaza is zoned B-2.)