The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday revoked a health spa license for a business on Canton Road following complaints that it didn’t have properly licensed therapists and for other violations stemming back nearly two years.
During a special hearing at the end of a regular business meeting Tuesday afternoon, Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, whose District 3 includes the Canton Road area, said the allegations are very serious and have not been corrected since initial citations were issued in 2022.
“To me, they’re not minor violations,” she said. “They’re serious. We’re concerned about a hardship putting somebody out of business, but when you don’t follow our code and our laws we have no choice.”
The vote to uphold the recommendation of denial by the Cobb Business License Review Board was 4-0, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid leaving the hearing early.
The Asian Wellness Massage (3372 Canton Road, Suite 110), which is owned by Lingxia Zhang, had its health spa license revoked and must close. although it can reapply in 12 months. Cobb is currently observing a six-month moratorium on issuing new health spa licenses, following requests from county officials to review those regulations.
The board voted 4-0 to continue a similar hearing to Aug. 13 for V Massage (2800 Canton Road, Suite 1200), at the request of the business’ attorney, citing family obligations.
A third health spa in East Cobb, Peace Spa at 4994 Lower Roswell Road, decided not to appeal the license review board’s decision to issue a two-week suspension earlier this year.
The hearing Tuesday for the Asian Wellness appeal lasted nearly three hours and was complicated by interpretations from English to Mandarin for the benefit of the owner.
Ellisia Webb, the Cobb Business License Division manager, said the issue of alleged violations there first came to the county’s attention when she was contacted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, which said it had reason to believe Asian Wellness Massage was advertising on various adult websites.
Asian Wellness was denied a renewal in April after a compliance check found that an employee on premises didn’t have a required health spa permit and another was not listed as an employee of the business.
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.
In testimony Tuesday, Zhang denied the business was being used for illicit purposes, and said the bed, which was new, belonged to an employee.
V Massage was denied a renewal of its health spa license in April. During a February compliance check, two employees were on-site, and neither could produce a require health spa permit. There also were no records of massage treatments provided, and the business did not post its operating hours, also violations of county code.
Meng Lim, an attorney for both health spas, pleaded for other correctional measures that did not involve the revocation of licenses.
“Do we use this opportunity to make sure that they don’t have a livelihood?” he asked commissioners in the hearing for Asian Wellness. “We all know that the board has a lot of discretion. . . .
“All businesses have minor infractions, and there are remedies for that.”
Sam Hensley, attorney for the Cobb Business License Division, said “we are looking for people who can follow the rules. They are the last line of defense for bad things happening in our community.”
He said there’s concern in the community for the potential for illicit activities, “including trafficking and sexual conduct occurring at businesses providing massages.”
Hensley said two years after the initial 2022 citations issued to Asian Wellness, “we’re still having the same problems. . . . We’re here to protect the community, not that individual.”
Commissioner Monique Sheffield said in reference to the Asian Wellness ads on adult websites that “they’ve taken additional steps to market their illicit massage, and that’s concerning to me.”
She referenced a bed in the back of the business that “I find it to be a stretch that it was just taken out of the packaging and left there. That doesn’t make sense to me. A lot of things are just not adding up to me.
“I have a difficult time accepting some of the testimony as being truthful.”
Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling said V Massage will be able to stay open until commissioners hear its appeal.
“We cannot force her to close,” he said, in reference to the owner.
Related:
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- Cobb voters to decide transit sales tax in November referendum
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- Cobb adopts new policy for traffic-calming in neighborhoods
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