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<br />Item No: 6B <br />Meeting Date: November 16, 2011 <br />Type of Business: Other Planning Activity <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />To: Mounds View Planning Commission <br />From: Heidi Heller, Planning Associate <br />Item Title/Subject: Discuss Code Amendment to Allow Therapeutic Massage as <br />a Permitted Home Occupation <br /> <br /> <br />Introduction: <br /> <br />At the City Council’s meeting on October 24, 2011, resident Mary Jo Howell asked the <br />Council whether it would be willing to amend the City Code to be more permissive toward <br />allowance of “massage therapy” as a home based business in Mounds View. The City <br />Council then discussed the idea at their work session on November 7, 2011. The City <br />Council now supports amending the City Code, and has asked that the Planning <br />Commission take on how this should be accomplished. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br /> <br />Massage Therapy is a licensed business activity in Mounds View. The regulations <br />pertaining to massage therapy can be found in Chapter 514 of the Mounds City Code, <br />originally adopted in 1996 via Ordinance 583. There are many licensing and zoning <br />requirements associated with such a business and they are expressly permitted only in the <br />B2, B3 & B4 commercial business zoning districts. Such a use is not permitted in a <br />residential zone or as a home-based business, as indicated in Section 514.10, Subd. 2, <br />regarding locations ineligible for a therapeutic massage license. This clause reads, “A <br />therapeutic massage enterprise may not be licensed if the location of such enterprise is not <br />in conformance with Title 1100 of the Mounds View Municipal Code.” <br /> <br />Staff requested information from other communities as to their allowance of massage <br />therapy as a home occupation. Ten communities responded that the activity was allowed <br />or permitted, although most required some sort of license or conditional use permit. <br /> <br />The Planning Commission has been directed by the City Council to review the existing City <br />Code and recommend the best way to make amendments that will allow therapeutic <br />massage as a home based business. Currently all massage therapists must receive an <br />annual license from the City. As you can see in Chapter 514.06, there is an extensive <br />amount of information required from the applicant, and this license requirement would not <br />change.