Warren No order granted over massage parlors

Staff report

WARREN

A judge has refused to grant a preliminary injunction requested by nine recreational-massage- parlor owners challenging Warren’s new massage- parlor ordinance.

Hearings will resume at 9 a.m. May 4, however, on a more-permanent resolution to the controversy.

The parlor owners filed suit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in February, saying they think the new ordinance unfairly prohibits their hours of operation from midnight to 6 a.m. The new hours will reduce revenues by 40 percent, the suit said.

The ordinance also raised the annual licensing fee for each parlor from $750 to $1,800 and the annual fee for each massage therapist from $65 to $640.

The parlor owners said those provisions are “a veiled attempt to close the licensed business establishments through excessive and unreasonably expensive regulatory costs.”

The next hearing in the case, being heard by Judge Peter Kontos, will be to schedule a trial date, according to Judge Kontos’ ruling.

Although the new hours of operation have gone into effect already, the higher licensing fees won’t become effective until January 2013, city officials have said.