Homestead, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Homestead treats massage and bath parlors as a special exception, not a permitted or licensed-by-right use. City Code § 30-531(a) lists 'Massage and bath parlors' in the B-3 general commercial district only, and requires the same path as every other special exception on the list: a formal application, a public hearing before the city council, and a council-granted special exception approved by ordinance before the business can even apply for a local business tax receipt. Subsection (b) repeats the requirement so there is no ambiguity: no massage or bath parlor may be issued a business tax receipt until the special exception ordinance is in place.

The special exception review itself is governed by criteria referenced elsewhere in the same division for special exceptions, letting the city council impose site-specific conditions such as parking, buffering, hours or operational limits as part of the approval. Massage and bath parlors sit on the same B-3-only, public-hearing list as adult bookstores, sex shops, sexually oriented businesses, liquor lounges and nightclubs, all uses the council treats as requiring individualized review rather than automatic approval. The section has been amended repeatedly, most recently by Ordinance No. 2025-05-12 adopted May 28, 2025, so an operator should confirm the current list and B-3 boundary with Development Services before filing.