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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 2d: Adopt Ordinance 2275: Personal Service Business Uses and CUP Permits for Such UsesORDINANCE NO. 2275 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING ARTICLE IX (DIVISION AND USE OF LAND) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO DEFINE AND ADDRESS REGULATIONS FOR PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS USES AND THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS FOR SUCH USES AND AMENDING ARTICLE VI (BUSINESSES, PROFESSIONS, TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS. THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 9220.15.1 is hereby added to Chapter 2, Part 2, of Article IX of the Arcadia Municipal Code to read as follows: "9220.15.1. BUSINESS, PERSONAL SERVICE. Personal Service Business shall mean a business providing non - medical personal, health, beauty, or grooming services to its individual customers as a primary use including, but not limited to, day spas, hair salons, nail salons, beauty parlors, health spas, tanning salons and tattoo parlors." SECTION 2. Section 9275.1.53.2.1 is hereby added to Division 5, Title 1 of Article IX of the Arcadia Municipal Code to read as follows: "9275.1.53.2.1. PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS. C -1, C -2 and C -M. SECTION 3. Section 6418.1 of Article VI, Chapter 4, Part 1, Division 8 of the Arcadia Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: "Personal Service Business" shall mean a business providing non - medical personal, health, beauty, or grooming services to its individual customers as a primary use including, but not limited to, day spas, hair salons, nail salons, beauty parlors, health spas, tanning salons and tattoo parlors." SECTION 4. Sections 9262.1.6 and 9262.1.7 of Article IX, Division 2, Part 6, Title 1 of the Arcadia Municipal Code are hereby repealed in their entirety. 1 SECTION 5. Section 9264.2.5 of the Arcadia Municipal Code is hereby amended to repeal sub - section (1) and renumber the remaining sub - sections 1 through 14. shall cause a copy of the same to be published in the official newspaper of said City within fifteen (15) days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall take effect thirty -one (31) days after its adoption. Passed, approved and adopted this day of 2010. ATTEST: City Clerk SECTION 6. The City Clerk shall certify to the adoption of this Ordinance and APPROVED AS TO FORM: Stephen P. Deitsch City Attorney • 2 Mayor of the City of Arcadia STAFF REPORT Development Services Department DATE: June 15, 2010 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Jason Kruckeberg Assistant City Manager / Development Services Director — By: Jim Kasama, Community Development Administrato SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF TEXT AMENDMENT NO. TA 10 -11 FOR ORDINANCE NO. 2275 AMENDING ARTICLE IX (DIVISION AND USE OF LAND) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO DEFINE AND ADDRESS REGULATIONS FOR PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS USES AND THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS FOR SUCH USES AND AMENDING ARTICLE VI (BUSINESSES, PROFESSIONS, TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS. Recommendation: Introduce Ordinance No. 2275 SUMMARY The Development Services Department is proposing to amend the City's Zoning Ordinance to define, "Personal Service Business," and to establish regulations and requirements for Conditional Use Permits for those uses. These amendments are being proposed in response to the continuing instances of illegal conduct at these types of businesses, which include day spas, hair salons, nail salons, beauty parlors and health spas. Many personal service businesses have private rooms and /or enclosures, which in most cases legitimately protect their customer's privacy. But, in more and more instances, these private rooms are being used to conduct illegal activities; primarily prostitution. The Development Services Department is recommending approval of the proposed text amendments as set forth in this report and the attached ordinance. BACKGROUND The City Council has held numerous discussions and study sessions on the problems being encountered at businesses that provide personal services; such as, acupuncturists and day spas. And, the City Council has had to act on the appeals of business license revocations of several such businesses because of the incidents of criminal activity at these businesses. At a Study Session at the City Council's April 6, 2010 meeting, staff was directed to institute a Conditional Use Permit requirement for Personal Service Businesses in order to provide an additional enforcement mechanism to curtail the incidents of criminal activity at these businesses. DISCUSSION Based on the direction given by the City Council, staff has prepared the attached Ordinance (No. 2275) to add to the Zoning Ordinance the definition of, "Personal Service Business" and the requirement of a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for those uses. The term, "Personal Service Business" is already defined in the Arcadia Municipal Code in Article VI (Businesses, Professions, Trades and Occupations) which primarily deals with business licensing. The definition is part of the Massage Therapist Regulations (Sections 6418 et seq.) and currently reads as follows: "Personal Service Business" shall mean a business providing non - medical personal, health, beauty, or grooming services to its individual customers as a primary use including, but not limited to, day spas, hair salons, nail salons, beauty parlors and health spas. In addition to adding this definition to the Zoning Ordinance, the definition is proposed to be revised to specifically include tanning salons and tattoo parlors. This is to avoid any ambiguity about these uses being considered Personal Service Businesses. Therefore, the definition is proposed to read as follows: "Personal Service Business" shall mean a business providing non - medical personal, health, beauty, or grooming services to its individual customers as a primary use including, but not limited to, day spas, hair salons, nail salons, beauty parlors, health spas, tanning salons and tattoo parlors. The requirement of a CUP for Personal Service Businesses may seem somewhat burdensome, but the ability to impose additional regulatory measures afforded by a CUP is necessary to respond to the criminal activities that have been found to be occurring at these businesses. Ord. 2275 — TA 10 -11 Personal Service Businesses June 15, 2010 — Page 2 of 5 Personal Service Businesses are currently allowed by right, provided there is adequate parking (5 spaces per 1,000 gross square feet — same as for any retail use) in the following zones: C -1, Limited Commercial; C -2, General Commercial; and C -M, Commercial Manufacturing. Barber shops and beauty parlors are also allowed in conjunction with and incidental to a hotel in the CPD -1, Commercial Planned Development -1 Zone; and with the exception of the front, one - third of the ground floor area along First Avenue, they are allowed in the CBD, Central Business District Zone. The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency, however, has deemed Personal Service Businesses as Inappropriate Uses in the Central Redevelopment Project Area (see the attached map) and at the Westfield regional shopping mall, beauty parlors, barber shops and figure salons are the only personal service businesses allowed by City Council Resolution No. 6199, which specifically covers the mall. It is proposed that a CUP be required for all Personal Service Businesses and that they only be allowed with an approved CUP in the C -1, C -2, and C -M zones. The C -1 zoning regulations would be amended to repeal, 'Barber Shops' and 'Beauty Parlors' as permitted uses by right, which would also eliminate them as allowed uses in the C -2 and C -M Zones. The provisions to allow barber shops and beauty shops in conjunction with a hotel in the CPD -1 Zone will remain because those uses would be subject to a CUP because a CUP is required for a hotel in the CPD -1 Zone. The CBD zoning regulations would be amended to repeal, 'Barber, beauty, tanning and nail shops;' from the list of Consumer Services that are allowed in the CBD Zones. And, City Council Resolution No. 6199 would not be amended to require CUPs for beauty parlors, barber shops and figure salons at the Westfield regional shopping mall. Personal service uses at the mall have not been a source of the type of criminal activity associated with Personal Service Businesses in other commercial areas. Although the proposal is to apply the CUP requirement to all Personal Service Businesses, an alternative is to require a CUP only for those businesses that make possible the potential for illegal activities to be conducted by preventing easy observation of the activities being conducted. That is, those businesses that prevent the entirety of their interiors from being fully visible from the exterior by covering the storefront and /or having screened /partitioned areas or rooms. Staff has found that those personal service businesses that do not provide any type of privacy or private areas have not been the subject of criminal activity. However, if these types of personal service businesses are to be exempted from the requirement of a CUP, standards are needed to delineate and ensure full visibility of the interior of the business. Such standards could be that a minimum of 80 percent of the storefront be clear glazing and unobstructed by any window coverings and with minimal window signage, and that there not be any interior rooms or screened /partitioned areas, except for restrooms and small storage spaces. Ord. 2275 — TA 10 -11 Personal Service Businesses June 15, 2010 — Page 3 of 5 The other consideration in effectuating the additional regulatory measures of requiring CUPs for personal service businesses is the applicability of the requirement to existing businesses, which normally are granted legal - nonconforming status when a new regulation is adopted. Legal- nonconforming status, however, need not necessarily be allowed. In adopting a new regulation, it can be made to apply retroactively to existing businesses either immediately, or after a specified time period, or upon any change in the status of the business, such as an expansion or change of ownership. Additionally, existing businesses can be given the option to alter their facilities by a specified time to meet any criteria established to be exempt from the CUP requirement; for example, remodeling the storefront and removal of any interior walls or partitions to provide full visibility of the interior of the business. It is estimated that there are currently about 100 personal service business locations in the City of Arcadia. Requiring all of them to get a CUP would be a significant administrative task, and given that most personal service businesses provide some type of privacy, even that distinction poses a daunting task. The method of implementing new regulations, determining its priority, and the provision of funds to effectuate implementation are City Council policy decisions, and if the regulations are to be applied in some manner to existing personal service businesses, that method will have to be included in the ordinance. PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION At its regular meeting on May 25, 2010, the Planning Commission considered Text Amendment No. TA 10 -11, and voted 4 to 1 to recommend approval of the proposed ordinance. The dissenting Commissioner, while opposed to massage parlor abuses, voted against this recommendation on the basis that it is overly broad and burdensome to require all Personal Service Businesses, such as hairdressers, nail salons, barber shops, etc. to get a Conditional Use Permit, for which the filing fee is currently $1,200. An excerpt of the Planning Commission Meeting Minutes is attached. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS The proposed text amendments and ordinance are exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because there is no possibility that the amendments to be effectuated by the proposed ordinance will have a significant effect on the environment. The basis for this determination is that the amendments to the Arcadia Municipal Code will either impose greater limitations on development that will thereby serve to reduce potentially significant adverse environmental impacts, or subject the applicable land uses to an individual discretionary review, which will then be subject to CEQA. The text amendments and ordinance are therefore exempt from further Ord. 2275 — TA 10 -11 Personal Service Businesses June 15, 2010 — Page 4 of 5 environmental review pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the CEQA guidelines. A Preliminary Exemption Assessment is attached. FISCAL IMPACT The proposed text amendments and ordinance will have no direct fiscal impact. RECOMMENDATION The Development Services Department recommends acceptance of the CEQA exemption determination and approval of Text Amendment No. TA 10 -11 by introduction of Ordinance No. 2275: Approved by: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA, AMENDING ARTICLE IX (DIVISION AND USE OF LAND) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO DEFINE AND ADDRESS REGULATIONS FOR PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS USES AND THE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS FOR SUCH USES AND AMENDING ARTICLE VI (BUSINESSES, PROFESSIONS, TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS) OF THE ARCADIA MUNICIPAL CODE TO REVISE THE DEFINITION OF PERSONAL SERVICE BUSINESS. m,csA,0PcA, Donald Penman, City Manager Attachments: Ordinance No. 2275 Map of the Central Redevelopment Project Area Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Excerpt Preliminary Exemption Assessment Ord. 2275 — TA 10 -11 Personal Service Businesses June 15, 2010 — Page 5 of 5