City Council introduced a pair of ordinances that would allow for spa and full-service beauty/health establishments downtown while also reducing the permitted use proximity from 1,000 feet to 250 feet.

O-37-14 would amend the Central Business District (CBD) redevelopment plan to add a new definition for spa, full-service beauty/health businesses, allowing for massage therapy but prohibiting massage parlors. O-38-14 also would amend the plan, allowing permitted uses within 250 feet of the same type of use; previously, the same type of use was allowed within 1,000 feet.

City Administrator Cherron Rountree said the changes would allow for legitimate spa-type businesses, like Massage Envy, which have approached the city in the past, to operate in the CBD. Previously, the ordinance provided no definition beyond a salon, and even then made no distinction between a barber shop or beauty salon, identifying them only as a “personal service” business. The Redevelopment Agency previously has denied a zoning overlay to exempt a hair salon from the proximity ordinance.

The ordinance was introduced at the Nov.  10 regular meeting and will come up for a public hearing and final adoption of the City Council’s Dec. 8 regular meeting.