A month after revoking a business license for a health spa on Canton Road, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked Tuesday to decide whether “due cause exists” to approve similar action for two other such businesses in the East Cobb area.
According to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, a public hearings has been scheduled for the V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), which was delayed from last month.
There’s also a hearing scheduled to consider revoking the license for Top Massage (2200 Roswell Road, Suite 150).
The hearings will take place near the end of Tuesday’s regular commission business meeting.
Like the health spas, Top Massage is accused by the Cobb Community Development Agency’s Business License Division of not having properly licensed therapists on staff or premises.
An agenda item said business license officials and Cobb Police visited the business on April 10 and found two employees working there—one of them performing a message—who had health spa permits but not the required state massage therapist license.
There also wasn’t a state licensed therapist at the business at the time, which also violates the county code, according to the agenda item.
At V Massage, a compliance check in February noted that an employee had neither the health spa permit or state massage license, and there were no records of treatment at the business, nor were the owners or licensees there at the time.
The business was issued citations for those and other violations of the county code, and V Massage was granted a delay last month.
In July, commissioners voted to revoke the license of Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), for similar reasons, with “serious” violations going back to 2022.
Cobb officials said they were alerted by the Georgia Attorney General’s office that the business was advertising on adult websites.
Agency officials said that during a police compliance check in late 2022, an investigator noticed that people were living on the premises, with a bed in a hallway, as well as hot plates, suitcases, non-work clothing and several pairs of shoes.
The business owner denied the charges, even after its license renewal was denied in April. Asian Wellness also had no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours.
At the July hearing before commissioners, Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said that there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”
Asian Wellness, which was forced to close, can reapply for its license in 12 months.
Another health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal a Cobb License Review Board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year for similar issues.
Commissioners voted in June to impose a six-month moratorium on granting new licenses to health spas at the request of county officials, who have expressed concern that “illicit health spa establishments are evading code and law enforcement.”
The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The full agenda for can be found by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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