[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Hazlet 2-20-2007 by Ord. No. 1388-07. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Licensing — See Ch. 249.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any systems of activity of structured touch which include,
but are not limited to, holding, applying pressure, positioning and
mobilizing soft tissue of the body by manual technique and use of
visual, kinesthetic, auditory and palpating skills to assess the body
for purposes of applying therapeutic massage, bodywork or somatic
principles. Such applications may include, but are not limited to,
the use of therapies such as heliotherapy or hydrotherapy, the use
of mist hot and cold external applications, external applications
of herbal or topical preparations not classified as prescription drugs,
movement and neuromyofacial education and education in self-care and
stress management. Massage, bodywork and somatic therapies do not
include the diagnosis or treatment of illness, disease, impairment
or disability.
Any person certified pursuant to the provisions of the Massage,
Bodywork and Somatic Therapist Certification Act, N.J.S.A. 45:11-53
et seq.
Any establishment wherein massage, bodywork and/or somatic
therapies are administered or are permitted to be administered for
any form of consideration.
As of August 7, 1999, the effective date of
the Massage, Bodywork and Somatic Therapist Certification Act, N.J.S.A.
45:11-53 et seq., the administering of massage, bodywork and/or somatic
therapies for any form of consideration by any person not certified
by the State of New Jersey pursuant to said Act shall be prohibited
throughout the Township of Hazlet.
No person, firm or corporation shall operate
any establishment or utilize any premises in the Township of Hazlet
as or for a massage, bodywork and somatic therapy unless or until
such person, firm or corporation has obtained a permit for such establishment
or premises from the Municipal Clerk in accordance with the terms
and provisions of this chapter.
Every applicant for a permit to maintain, operate
or conduct a massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment shall
file an application with the Municipal Clerk upon a form provided
by the Clerk and pay a fee of $500, which shall be nonrefundable,
unless the applicant voluntarily withdraws the application within
five days of filing; and can demonstrate that it has not operated
the business for which the application is pending during said five-day
period; in which event, $150 shall not be refundable. All permits
shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of issuance.
Permittees may renew their permits prior to expiration by filing a
new application with the Municipal Clerk in the manner prescribed
in this chapter and accompanied by the requisite fee.
[Amended 7-10-2007 by Ord. No. 1405-07]
Any person desiring a massage, bodywork and
somatic therapy establishment permit shall file a written application
with the Municipal Clerk upon a form provided by the Clerk. The application
form shall contain the following information:
A.
The name, date of birth and social security number
of the applicant.
B.
The type of ownership of the business i.e., whether
individual, partnership, corporation or otherwise.
C.
The name, style and designation under which the business
is to be conducted.
D.
The business address and all telephone numbers, including
facsimile, where business is to be conducted.
E.
A complete list of the names, dates of birth, social
security numbers and residence addresses of all massage, bodywork
and somatic therapists and employees of the business and the name
and residence address of the manager or other person principally in
charge of the operation of the business.
F.
A sworn statement indicating that all massage, bodywork
and somatic therapists employed or to be employed by the establishment
or otherwise permitted to work at the establishment have been certified
by the State of New Jersey pursuant to the Massage, Bodywork and Somatic
Therapist Certification Act, N.J.S.A. 45:11-53 et seq.
G.
The following personal information concerning the
applicant, if an individual; concerning each stockholder holding more
than 10% of the stock of the corporation, each officer and each director;
if the applicant is a corporation; concerning the partners, including
limited partners, if the applicant is a partnership; and concerning
the manager or other person principally in charge of the operation
of the business shall be provided.
(1)
The name, complete residence address and residence
telephone number.
(2)
The two previous addresses immediately prior to the
present address of the applicant.
(3)
Written proof of age.
(4)
Weight, height, sex, color of hair and eyes.
(5)
Two front-face portrait photographs taken within 30
days of the date of the application and at least two inches by two
inches in size.
(6)
The massage therapy or similar business history and
experience, including, but not limited to, whether or not such person
has previously operated in this or another municipality or state under
a license or permit or has had such license or permit denied, revoked
or suspended and the reason therefor, and the business activities
or occupations subsequent to such action or denial, suspension or
revocation.
(7)
All criminal convictions other than misdemeanor traffic
violations, fully disclosing the jurisdiction in which convicted and
the offense for which convicted and circumstances thereof. The applicant
shall execute a waiver and consent to allow a fingerprint and criminal
background check by Township Police Department. Failure to execute
such a waiver and consent shall result in a denial of a permit.
H.
The names and addresses of three adult residents of
the county who will serve as a character references. These references
must be persons other than relatives and business associates.
The Municipal Clerk, upon receiving an application
for a massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment permit shall
refer to the application to the Building Department and the Health
Department, which Departments shall inspect the premises proposed
to be operated as such an establishment and shall make written recommendations
to the Municipal Clerk concerning compliance with the codes that they
administer. No massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment
shall be issued a permit or be operated, established or maintained
in the Township unless an inspection by the Building Department and
Health Department reveals that the establishment complies with the
minimum requirements of the Building and Health Codes for businesses
operating in the Township of Hazlet. In addition, the establishment
must comply with each of the following minimum requirements:
A.
All massage tables, bathtubs, shower stalls, steam
or bath areas and floors shall have surfaces which may be readily
disinfected.
B.
Adequate bathing, dressing and locker facilities shall
be provided for the patrons to be served at any given time. In the
event that the male and female patrons are to be served simultaneously,
separate bathing, dressing, locker and massage room facilities shall
be provided.
C.
The premises shall have adequate equipment for disinfecting
and sterilizing nondisposable instruments and materials used in administering
massages. Such nondisposable instruments and materials shall be disinfected
after use on each patron.
D.
Adequate hand washing facilities shall be provided
at convenient locations as necessary to maintain clean hands and arms
of all employees during hours of operation.
A.
With the exception of massage, bodywork and somatic
therapists who are certified pursuant to P.L. 1999 c. 19 9 (N.J.S.A.
45:11-53 et seq.), all applicants seeking a permit under this chapter
shall be fingerprinted by the Hazlet Township Police Department. The
Hazlet Township Police Department shall fingerprint such applicants
by appointment. The applicant shall pay a fee of $54 to the Police
Department for the cost of fingerprinting.
[Amended 7-10-2007 by Ord. No. 1405-07]
B.
When said application is properly filled out, signed
by the applicant and has been filed with the Municipal Clerk with
all accompanying information, the application shall be referred by
the Clerk to the Township Police Department. The Chief of Police or
his or her designee shall investigate the information available as
to the good moral character of the applicant, and approve or disapprove
the application within 90 days. Reasons for disapproval shall be set
forth in writing on the reverse side of the application. The application
shall be returned to the Municipal Clerk, who will either issue the
permit or notify the applicant of a denial.
A.
Permits issued under this chapter may be revoked by
the Chief of Police, after notice and a hearing, for any of the following
causes:
(1)
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statement in the
application for the permit.
(2)
Fraud, misrepresentation or false statement made in
the course of carrying on the permitted business in the Township.
(3)
Any violation of this chapter.
(4)
Conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, a
felony, an offense involving sexual misconduct, keeping or residing
in a house of prostitution, and any crime involving dishonesty.
(5)
Conducting the permitted business in the Township
in the unlawful manner as to constitute a menace to the health, safety
or general welfare of the public.
B.
Notice of the hearing for the revocation of a permit
shall be given in writing, setting forth specifically the grounds
of the complaint and the time and place of the hearing. Such notice
shall be given personally or mailed to the permittee at his/her last
known address at least five days prior to the date set for the hearing.
Such permit may, pending revocation proceedings, be suspended for
not more than 10 days by the Chief of Police if, in his/her opinion,
the conduct of the permittee is detrimental to the health, safety
and general welfare of the Township of Hazlet. The Chief of Police
shall serve as hearing officer for any hearing pursuant to this section.
The massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment
shall display its permit as well as the certification in accordance
with the Massage, Bodywork and Somatic Therapist Certification Act,
N.J.S.A. 45:11-53 et seq. of each and every massage, bodywork and
somatic therapist employed in the establishment in an open and conspicuous
place on the premises of the establishment.
Every massage, bodywork, somatic therapy establishment
shall comply with the following:
A.
Every portion of the massage, bodywork and somatic
therapy establishment, including appliances and apparatus, shall be
kept clean and operated in a sanitary condition.
B.
Price rates for all services be prominently posted
in the reception area in a location available to all prospective customers.
C.
All employees, including massage, bodywork and somatic
therapists, shall be clean and wear clean, nontransparent outer garments.
Dressing rooms must be available on the premises. Doors to such dressing
rooms shall open inward and shall be self-closing.
D.
All massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishments
shall be provided with clean laundered sheets and towels in sufficient
quantity which shall be laundered after each use thereof and stored
in a sanitary manner.
E.
The sexual or genital area of patrons must be covered
by towels, cloths or undergarments when in the presence of an employee
or massage, bodywork or somatic therapist.
F.
It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly, in
a massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment, to place his
or her hand upon or touch with any part of his or her body, to fondle
in any manner or to massage a sexual or genital area of any other
person. No massage, bodywork and somatic therapist, employee or operator
shall perform or offer to perform any act which would require the
touching of the patron's sexual or genital area.
G.
All walls, ceilings, floors, pools, showers, bathtubs,
steam rooms and all other physical facilities shall be in good repair
and maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. Wet and dry heat
rooms, steam or vapor rooms or steam or vapor cabinets and shower
compartments and toilet rooms shall be thoroughly cleaned each day
the business is in operation. Bathtubs and showers shall be thoroughly
cleaned for each use. When carpeting is used on the floors, it shall
be kept dry.
H.
Oils, creams, lotions and other preparations used
in administering massage, bodywork and somatic therapies shall be
kept in clean closed containers or cabinets.
I.
Animals, except for seeing eye dogs, shall not be
permitted in the massage work area.
J.
Each massage, bodywork and somatic therapist shall
wash his or her hands in hot running water, using a proper soap or
disinfectant before administering a massage.
The Health Department shall, from time to time,
at least twice a year, make an inspection of each massage, bodywork
and somatic therapy establishment granted a permit under the provisions
of this chapter for the purpose of determining whether the provisions
of this chapter are being complied with. Such inspections shall be
made at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner. It shall be unlawful
for any permittee to fail to allow such inspection officer access
to the premises or to hinder such officer in any manner.
No part of any quarters of any massage, bodywork
and somatic therapy establishment shall be used for or connected with
any bedroom or sleeping quarters nor shall any person sleep in such
massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment except for limited
periods incidental to and directly related to a massage, bodywork
and somatic therapy treatment or bath. This provision shall not preclude
the location of massage, bodywork and somatic therapy establishment
in separate quarters of a building housing a hotel or other separate
businesses or clubs.
A.
No owner or manager of a massage, bodywork and somatic
therapy establishment shall tolerate in his or her establishment any
activity or behavior prohibited by the laws of the State of New Jersey,
particularly, but not limited to, laws proscribing prostitution, indecency
and obscenity, including the sale, uttering or exposing and public
communication of obscene material; laws which relate to the commission
of sodomy, adultery and proscribing fornication, nor shall any owner
or manager tolerate in his or her establishment any activity or behavior
which violates this chapter.[1]
B.
Any conviction of any employee of a massage, bodywork
and somatic therapy establishment of a violation of the aforementioned
statutes and codes shall devolve upon the owner or manager of such
establishment, it being specifically declared that following such
conviction of an employee, the owner or manager of the establishments
shall be prosecuted as an accessory to such violation and the permits
which have been issued shall be automatically revoked.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply
to massage, bodywork or somatic therapies given:
A.
In the office of licensed physician, chiropractor
or physical therapist; or
B.
By a regularly established medical center, hospital
or sanitarium having a staff which includes licensed physicians, chiropractors
and/or physical therapists; or
C.
By any licensed physician, chiropractor or physical
therapist in the residence of his or her patient; or
D.
By a licensed barber or cosmetologist/hairstylist
limited to the areas of the face, neck, scalp or upper part of the
body as set forth in the Cosmetology and Hairstyling Act of 1984,
N.J.S.A. 45:5B-1 et seq.
In addition to the revocation or suspension
of the permit granted under this chapter any person who violates any
provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction hereof, be punished
by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
90 days, or both.[1]
