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Item No: 6A Meeting Date: March 7, 2012 Type of Business: Discussion City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Mounds View Planning Commission From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate Item Title/Subject: Discuss Code Amendment to Allow Therapeutic Massage as a Permitted Home Occupation Introduction: At a City Council meeting in October, a resident asked the Council whether they would be willing to amend the City Code to be more permissive toward allowance of “massage therapy” as a home based business in Mounds View. The City Council then discussed the idea at their November work session. The City Council supports amending the City Code, and has asked that the Planning Commission take on how this should be accomplished. Discussion: Massage Therapy is a licensed business activity in Mounds View. The regulations pertaining to massage therapy can be found in Chapter 514 of the Mounds City Code, originally adopted in 1996 via Ordinance 583. There are many licensing and zoning requirements associated with such a business and they are expressly permitted only in the B2, B3 & B4 commercial business zoning districts. Such a use is not permitted in a residential zone or as a home- based business, as indicated in Section 514.10, Subd. 2, regarding locations ineligible for a therapeutic massage license. This clause reads, “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.” At the December 7, 2011 Planning Commission meeting, the Commission discussed options about how to amend the City Code to allow massage therapy as a home based business. The Commission felt that the use should not simply be allowed, but that some sort of city action should be taken to permit this business use in a residential district. The Commission decided that a conditional use permit seemed to be the best way to accomplish this. They felt it was important to notify the neighborhood about the business activity, and the required public hearing for a CUP would accomplish that. When reviewing other cities allowances for massage therapy in residential districts, the Commission was interested in the “special home occupation permit” that the City of White Bear Lake uses, and asked staff to find more information. Staff reviewed White Bear Lake’s special home occupation permit process and discussed the idea with the Planning Commission. The Commission opted to not create a new special home occupation permit process for one type of business. After more discussion, the Commission decided that a public notification process and requiring approval from the property owner (if the massage therapist does not own the property), should be sufficient.