City Council approves temporary ban on new massage businesses downtown

The Pleasanton City Council voted Tuesday to immediately enact a temporary ban on new or expanded massage businesses in the downtown area, setting the stage for the issue to be decided through the city’s ongoing Downtown Specific Plan update process.

The unanimous decision, in the wake of a heavily opposed attempt to open a massage business in a largely residential part of downtown, came in the form of an urgency ordinance that remains in effect for at least 45 days but does not prevent existing establishments from continuing to operate in line with their permits.

“I would like to make sure we emphasize this is something that is temporary. This is not something that is permanent,” Mayor Jerry Thorne said Tuesday night at the Pleasanton Civic Center. “It’s just to give the task force and the staff an opportunity to look at this issue very hard to find out where we do want to allow these in the downtown.”

The question took center stage in recent weeks after city planning staff and the Pleasanton Police Department initially signed off on a request from a massage business tenant to open at 1056 Division St. in a building that looks like a house converted for commercial use that is zoned in the office district — a designation that allows massage businesses with city approval.

The property is located at the northwestern edge of the Downtown Specific Plan area, about five blocks from the downtown business center at the corner of Division and Fair streets on an isolated commercial parcel surrounded by homes.

The building had primarily housed office uses in the past, so the prospect of a massage business opening in what is otherwise a residential part of downtown raised red flags for many neighbors.

City officials fielded complaints from residents and later found the business operator failed to meet all permit requirements, which would have prompted revocation proceedings had the operator not voluntarily relinquished the permit rather than pursue a hearing, according to community development director Gerry Beaudin.

But even though the problematic location on Division Street never opened, the issue remained for city staff about how to address future massage businesses throughout the downtown area — which currently has 24 permitted massage establishments (out of 66 massage permits citywide), Beaudin said.

The Downtown Specific Plan Update Task Force was already hard at work developing proposed land-use regulations for the downtown area, including personal services like massage businesses, and the city attorney had also begun looking at the city’s massage ordinance for potential updates, according to Beaudin.

“We just decided that now would be a good time to pause on new massage establishments, or the expansion of (existing),” Beaudin said. “This seemed like an appropriate time based on the work that the city was doing overall relative to massage establishments and the concern that was raised relative to that one site.”

About a dozen residents were in the audience for the discussion Tuesday night, but only one spoke to the council. Patty Recupero said she thought the urgency ordinance was a win-win.

“I’m here tonight to urge the City Council to pass the urgent moratorium,” she said. “I believe it’s important to hit the pause button … to give the city staff and council time to explore all the pros, cons and loopholes the personal use category has under the office use zoning.”

The council agreed, voting 5-0 to adopt the urgency ordinance, which prohibits new massage establishments or the expansion of any existing massage businesses in downtown, including increasing the square footage and in most cases adding more technicians.

Existing massage businesses downtown can stay open, secure annual permit renewals, hire replacement technicians or change owners as long as they adhere to all permit and code requirements and do not expand.

The urgency ordinance takes effect initially for 45 days, after which the council could opt to extend for up to another 10 months and 15 days — and after that, another year if desired.

The final downtown massage decision is now shifted to the Downtown Specific Plan update process. One of the many ideas the task force has already considered is whether the city should restrict ground-floor tenant spaces on Main Street to “active uses” only, which would exclude personal services such as massage and salons, according to Beaudin.

All task force recommendations for potential downtown regulations, including on massage businesses, will ultimately be forwarded to the Planning Commission for review and to City Council for final consideration.