Massage parlour in Unionville rubs residents the wrong way
According to an online directory dedicated to erotic massage parlours, there are about 55 massage parlours in Markham.

yorkregion.com
June 23, 2016
By Amanda Persico

Main Street Unionville is a happening place, alive with music, residents and out-of-towners strolling along to restaurants, galleries and shops.

But at the back of one establishment is a sign, “Bubble Spa Massage” with a phone number.

According to several webpages, Bubble Spa at 147A Main St., is listed as an erotic massage parlour – a body rub parlour.

Calls to phone numbers associated with Bubble Spa went directly to an uninitiated voicemail.

For many in the community, it’s about the signs and about Unionville’s image.

“We want that sign gone,” resident Shanta Sundarason said. “That is not what Unionville is known for.”

On one Kijiji page, Bubble Spa is listed as an inexpensive relaxing massage featuring Asian and Japanese models, luxury rooms and shower.

Another page depicts scantily-clad women and allows spa patrons to “pick ur (sic) beautiful girl” and offers “5-star service”.

“I was horrified when I saw this,” said Sundarason, a mother of two. “This can’t be real. At the front, it looks like a normal reception. But the website says a different story.”

Sundarason took the issue to the city’s bylaw department. The city said earlier this week it “is aware of this business and the matter is under investigation.”

Legal proceedings against the business owner have since been initiated and the signs have been removed from the premises, the city’s director of corporate communications, Dennis Flaherty, stated in an email to the Economist & Sun on Wednesday.

Bubble Spa is one of about 55 massage parlours in Markham listed on an online directory dedicated to erotic massage parlours.

The directory lists about 50 massage parlours in Richmond Hill, 40 in Vaughan, 20 in Woodbridge and 10 in the Newmarket/Aurora area.

According to the directory, Bubble Spa, which used to operate in the same location under the name Cozy Loft, opened in 2014.

A few years ago, the city hosted a design charrette to help boost and build a vision for Main Street.

“We have to get rid of places like this,” said Sundarason, who is a member of the Unionville visionary committee recently established to follow through on the design vision from the charrette.

“This sort of activity is not welcome here. We will make it known to all business operators that we will not ever tolerate such activities in our village.”

There is a process, said city councillor Don Hamilton.

“Ridding our village of any undesirable activity is no longer a matter of ‘coming in with guns ablazing’ like the days of the old west,” Hamilton said. “There are legal processes and protocols that must be followed if the city is to be successful. Residents need to be mindful and respectful of that.”

The city is undertaking a comprehensive bylaw review, which includes bylaws and zoning for issues related to adult entertainment uses.

According to a draft consultants’ report, Markham’s current bylaws define body rub as “includes the kneading, manipulating, rubbing, massaging, touching or stimulating by any means of a person’s body or part thereof, but does not include medical or therapeutic treatment given by a person otherwise duly qualified, licensed or registered to do so under the laws of the Province of Ontario.”

Adult entertainment parlours - “services appealing to or designed to appeal to erotic or sexual appetites or inclinations, which services include activities, facilities, performances, exhibitions, viewings and encounters,” - are prohibited in any nightclub, place of entertainment, recreational establishment or theatre.

Body rub parlours cannot be within 500 metres of any residential zone, school, place of worship or child day care centre, one kilometre from another body rub parlour and the city can only license 10 body rub establishments.

An adult entertainment parlour cannot be within 120 metres of those same places.

There are many areas where adult entertainment parlours are neither explicitly permitted nor prohibited.

There are several areas where adult entertainment parlours were once permitted, but more recent bylaws have changed the land use.

However, the newer bylaws do not outlaw these types of businesses outright.

Inconsistencies between bylaw definitions and zoning are part of the review.