For the purposes of this chapter, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to
them by this section:
HEALTH CLUB
Any establishment which offers service in the form of massage,
baths, exercises or similar services, in combination to club members
or to the public for a charge. The term "health club" does not include:
A.
Hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics or
the offices or quarters of a physician, a surgeon or an osteopath.
B.
Exercise clubs exclusively for members or clientele
of one sex alone where the services, without massage in any form,
are performed by persons of the same sex as the members or clientele.
C.
Barbershops and beauty parlors.
MASSEUR AND MASSEUSE
A person who practices any one or more of the arts of body
massage, either by hand or mechanical apparatus, oil rubs, corrective
gymnastics, mechanotherapy, including color therapy, dietetics, hot
packs, cabinet, tub, shower, sitz, vapor, steam or any other special
type of bath.
[Amended 7-19-2011]
This chapter is enacted pursuant to the provisions
of § 15.2-1200, Code of Virginia, and promoting the health,
safety and general welfare of the people of the county.
It is hereby declared that the business of operating
health clubs, as defined in this chapter, are businesses affecting
the public health, safety and general welfare.
It shall be unlawful for any person to engage
in the business of a health club without a permit or in violation
of any requirements or prohibitions set forth in this chapter or any
regulation issued pursuant thereto.
[Added 5-3-1993; amended 7-21-1998]
No health-care professionals, including but not limited to physicians, surgeons, physical therapists, certified massage therapists, chiropractors and dentists, who are licensed by the commonwealth following an examination to practice their profession, nor any corporation or association consisting of such health-care professionals, shall be required to obtain a permit to offer the services set forth in §
107-1, and the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to such health-care professionals.
No part of any quarters of any health club shall
be used for or connected with any bedroom or sleeping quarters nor
shall any person sleep in such health club except for limited periods
incidental to and directly related to a massage or bath. This provision
shall not preclude the location of a health club in separate quarters
of a building housing a hotel or other separate businesses or clubs.
No owner or manager of a health club shall tolerate
in his establishment any activity or behavior prohibited by the laws
of the commonwealth, particularly, but not exclusive of Chapter 8,
Article 3, Title 18, § 18.2-344 et seq., Code of Virginia,
proscribing prostitution, sodomy, a bawdy place, adultery, fornication
and any lewd and lascivious cohabitation, etc., and Article 5 thereof
§ 18.2-372, being the state statute on obscenity, dealing
with shameful or morbid interest in nudity or sex, which appeals to
prurient interest, and which covers obscene items, exhibitions, performances,
indecent exposure, illicit photographs or photographic activity and
illicit modeling; nor shall any owner or manager tolerate in his or
her establishment any activity or behavior which violates this Code,
particularly, but not exclusive of those sections which parallel the
state statutes on immorality and obscenity detailed above. Any conviction
of any employee of a health club of a violation of the foregoing mentioned
statutes and codes shall devolve upon the owner or manager of such
club, it being specifically declared hereby that following such a
conviction of an employee, the owner or manager of the club shall
be prosecuted as an accessory to such violation.
[Added 6-18-1990]
Any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter shall be subject to a penalty as set forth in Chapter
1, §
1-11, of the Warren County Code.