Aliso Viejo, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Chapter 4.14 of the Aliso Viejo Municipal Code, adopted through Ordinance 2018-194, makes the license the gate to opening. Section 4.14.080 bars anyone from owning, operating or managing a massage establishment in the city without one, requires a separate license for each establishment, and ties validity to a conditional use permit under Title 15. An operator or manager also breaks the code by letting a therapist work who is not a certified massage therapist.

The application is delivered to the city manager with a nonrefundable fee set by City Council resolution. It must include a scaled floor sketch accurate to plus or minus 12 inches, fingerprints acceptable to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, a signed statement that only certified massage therapists will be employed, and certificates of compliance from the Aliso Viejo building and safety division and the Orange County health department. If the compliance report does not reach the city within 60 days of filing, the application is void and the fees are not refunded. A second application goes to the Sheriff's Department for a background check through the Department of Justice.

Within 75 days of a completed application the city manager either issues the license or mails written reasons for denial. A continuance of up to 60 days is allowed when another agency, such as the state Department of Justice, cannot respond in time. An applicant under 18 is denied. A denial becomes final unless the applicant files a written request for reconsideration within 10 calendar days. After a denial the applicant waits one year to reapply, and a licensee whose license is revoked or not renewed waits two years.

Section 4.14.110 sets the operating rules: no operation between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. unless the conditional use permit says otherwise, at least one on-duty CAMTC-certified therapist on the premises whenever the doors are open, no alcoholic beverages or controlled substances, and no tinted or one-way glass. The license and each CAMTC certificate must hang in an open and conspicuous place. Licensed health care professionals and self-operating massage chairs are exempt under § 4.14.030, but a health care facility that uses more than 15 percent of its floor area for massage, or draws 15 percent of gross receipts from it, needs both a license and a conditional use permit.