ORD 2182 - Laserfiche WebLink

Urgency Ordinance No. 2182 Page 2 of 5 WHEREAS, Assembly Bill No. 1147 (2013-2014 Reg. Sess.) ('`AB 1147"), amended the Massage Therapy Act to expand local authority to adopt zoning regulations, business licensing, and reasonable health and safety requirements for massage establishments and practitioners. More specifically, AB 1147 allows cities to exercise broad authority to regulate massage facilities as a land use, including through a conditional use permit. The provisions of AB 1147 remained in effect only until January 1, 2017 However, Assembly Bill No. 2194 (2015-2016 Reg. Sess.), clarified and extended until January 1; 2021 the requirements established by AB 1147; and WHEREAS, the City recently received an application for a zoning certificate for a massage establishment at 1056 Division Street ("property"), which is in the Downtown Specific Plan area. The property has a zoning designation of Office District. The City's General Plan and Downtown Specific Plan both designate the property as Medium Density Residential; and WHEREAS, the proposed massage establishment use is an allowable use under the property's current Office District zoning designation, the City's Planning Division issued a zoning certificate pursuant to section 18.12.060 of the Pleasanton Municipal Code, in conjunction with the Pleasanton Police Department initially issuing a massage establishment permit, but which permit has subsequently been subject to revocation as the applicant is alleged to have failed to fulfill all of the requirements of section 6.24 of the Pleasanton Municipal Code: and WHEREAS, although the business operator of the proposed massage establishment at 1056 Division Street has since relinquished the massage establishment permit to the Police Department, it is important that before other massage establishments locate in the Downtown Specific Plan area, the bodies involved in the Downtown Specific Plan Update, including the Downtown Specific Plan Task Force, the Planning Commission, and the City Council, determine: (1) to what extent such uses are compatible with other uses in the Downtown Specific Plan area; (2) to the extent such uses are allowed, in which areas of the Downtown Specific Plan area should they be allowed to locate; and (3) whether such uses should be subject to either a Minor Conditional Use Permit or a Conditional Use Permit pursuant to the authority provided under the Massage Therapy Act: and WHEREAS, Government Code section 65858 authorizes the City to adopt as an urgency measure an urgency ordinance prohibiting any uses that may be in conflict with a contemplated general plan, specific plan, or zoning proposal that the City Council, Planning Commission, or Planning Division, is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time; and WHEREAS, City staff anticipates that there may be other applications for permits or approvals submitted for massage establishments in the Downtown Specific Plan in the near future that may conflict with. and undermine, any new land use regulations that the City may implement as a result of the current Downtown Specific Plan update. Therefore, there is a current and immediate threat to the public health, safety. or welfare: and WHEREAS, issuance of any approval or permit for a massage establishment in the Downtown Specific Plan area would be a threat to public health, safety, or welfare due to potential incompatibility issues with new land use regulations as described in Section N, above; potential overconcentration of massage establishments in the Downtown Specific Plan area as approximately twenty-four (24) massage establishments are already operating in this area; and a risk of increased public nuisance complaints and criminal activity surrounding massage establishments as the Pleasanton Police Department has arrested persons for illegal services being provided at some massage establishments.