Cheektowaga, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Section 260-37A(1)(h)[2] of the Zoning Code defines MASSAGE ESTABLISHMENT as 'any establishment having a fixed place of business where massages, body rubs, sports rubs, hot oil body rubs or similar services are administered,' and the definition expressly excludes a hospital, bona fide medical or health establishment, nursing home, medical clinic, or the office of a physician, surgeon, chiropractor, osteopath, duly licensed physical therapist or licensed massage therapist, along with barbershops, beauty shops and beauty salons where massage is limited to the scalp, face, neck or shoulders.

Because massage establishment is listed as one of the six categories of 'adult use' regulated in § 260-37A(1)(h), a covered massage business is confined to the M2 General Manufacturing District, must sit at least 1,500 feet from another adult use and from residential districts, schools, parks, places of worship and similar uses under [3], and must obtain a certificate of registration from the Town Clerk under [4] disclosing ownership, premises address and the nature of the use, paying a $50 fee. The registration must be displayed on-site, cannot be transferred to another person or location, and can be suspended or revoked for a knowingly false statement in the application.

This structure means a licensed massage therapist's private clinical practice, chiropractic office or medical massage service is not swept into these adult-use rules at all: the carve-out in the definition is doing the real regulatory work for legitimate therapeutic massage businesses in Cheektowaga.