Chesapeake, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Chesapeake regulates massage therapy establishments through Chapter 38, Article III of the City Code. Sec. 38-76 makes it unlawful for a massage therapy establishment operator to run a facility without a valid operator's permit, and Sec. 38-62 backs that up by requiring every massage therapist to be certified by the state board of nursing, with therapists who held a valid permit before the ordinance given one year to get certified. Sec. 38-77 requires a written application to the director, who may order a criminal background check and must refuse the permit to anyone found to have committed a felony or a crime of moral turpitude.

Sec. 00 for both the original issuance and each annual renewal of the operator's permit. Under Sec. 38-79, the permit is valid for one year, is not transferable between operators or locations, and must be posted in full public view. Sec. 38-80 lets the director suspend or revoke a permit for violating the article or the health department's rules. The article also bans specific conduct: Sec. 38-62 prohibits touching or massaging an 'erogenous area,' defined as the genitals and, for a female, the nipples and areolae, and bars performing an off-premises massage in a private room at any hotel, motel, or transient lodging facility as defined at Sec.

30-351. Minimum-facility rules under Division 3 require adequate dressing space, self-closing toilet room doors, and at least 20 foot-candles of light in every room, including toilet rooms. Complaints go to the department of public health, and any law enforcement officer may issue a summons for a violation under Sec. 38-63.