GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — A licensed massage therapist in Green Bay is sharing her concerns about the city's spa ordinance proposal.
City leaders are working on a new law placing stricter rules on massage parlors.
Sara Krueger is a state-licensed massage therapist.
She owns Astra Therapeutics & Bodywork in downtown Green Bay.
"It means stars," Krueger said.
But she rents the space where she does her work.
"I call it a massage studio," Krueger said.
Krueger's business has almost everything you would think of in a spa.
"I hung up some curtains to kind of give them [the clients] a separate feel," Krueger said.
But she doesn't have a separate waiting room for her clients.
In the city's spa ordinance proposal, it defines a waiting area as a room that is "separate from any area where massage therapy or bodywork therapy takes place."
"There was somebody that said that they were in their car, and they'd get a text when they'd come inside," District 11 Alderman Melinda Eck said. "So, there's all types of scenarios there."
"If they implemented these restrictions, I'd probably have to find a new space," Krueger said. "Once you start talking about having separate spaces, especially separate waiting rooms and treatment rooms, your rent increases significantly."
In a meeting last week, the city's Protection & Policy Committee sent the spa ordinance proposal back to staff for revisions.
Eck said it's looking like a waiting room requirement will be revised, or possibly taken out.
"It's still a working document," Eck said.
This comes after an NBC 26 investigation in May.
We looked at police records that showed various violations at some spas.
Particularly, the spas found in the records were the Gonh, Sunrise, and Dream spas along Military Avenue.
Now, city leaders are working to make sure all spas follow the law.
"A lot of them are already meeting what the expectations are laid out in the ordinance," Eck said.
But Krueger wants the ordinance to leave out massage therapists already licensed, saying it's over-regulation.
"We're regulated under the state already," Krueger said.
The ordinance also proposes that no massage establishment can be open between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
"I'm not going to be one that's up at 5 o'clock in the morning," Krueger said. "But I do know massage therapists who do see clients at 5 or 5:30 in the morning, because that's just when they're available."
Eck is requesting closing hours at spas be 9 p.m., instead.
"I feel that if a person needs a massage, they can find time," Eck said.
The ordinance won't go into effect until it's been approved by the Common Council.
The Council's next meeting isn't until Aug. 1, when the spa ordinance proposal is currently scheduled to take effect.
