Woman seeks special use permit to open massage parlor in Crystal Lake - Northwest Herald

[massage]

Mike Mallory – [email protected]
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The Crystal Lake City Council will decide Monday night whether to grant a special use permit to Velina Lazarova, who wants to open Astro Spa in a vacant space at an office building at 7115 Virginia Road.

CRYSTAL LAKE – The City Council will decide Monday whether to grant a special use permit for a massage spa in a Virginia Road office building.

The sign for Astro Spa already is up at 7115 Virginia Road, Suite 111, where Velina Lazarova is looking to open a new business in a vacant office space. According to city code, massage establishments are required to apply for a special use permit.

Lazarova was before the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday, where her presentation received positive feedback from commissioners. They voted, 5-0, to recommend that the City Council grant the special use permit.

The commission thanked Lazarova for providing background information on her work experience in other Crystal Lake salons. Commissioners commended Lazarova on the details supplied with her application.

Astro Spa will have astrology consultations, educational workshops on skin care with suggested products and techniques, reflexology and chakra.

Crystal Lake has a specific regulation code for all massage parlors in the city. Among other things, the code requires that it is possible to see through 75 percent of the windows at the parlor, and that the business is not open later than 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m. for any reason.

State-granted licenses of all massage therapists, their names and addresses must be presented to the city.

Massage establishments have attracted some negative attention in McHenry County from time to time.

Two massage parlors that opened consecutively in the same Lake in the Hills location on Polaris Drive lost their massage licenses in September 2016 and again in March.

In 2013, four Crystal Lake massage establishments were linked to prostitution in less than two months.

In response, state-certified massage therapists from the area banded together to defend their practice, saying those who were arrested do not represent the majority of masseuses and legal massage facilities.

In November, a physical therapist working in the same office park that Lazarova wants to open Astro Spa in was charged with battery.

Police allege that Michael Lim, 39, of Huntley inappropriately touched a patient in September.

Lazarova’s request and many others are on agenda for a special meeting of the Crystal Lake City Council at 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 100 W. Woodstock St.


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