Newark, NJ Business Licensing & Operations: Massage Establishments (2026)

Section 41:6-2-26 of Newark's zoning code governs Massage Facilities as a conditional use. C. 13:37A, the Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy Rules, and proof of that certification must be submitted with the conditional-use application before the Central Planning Board will act on it. The section does not authorize freestanding massage parlors: it requires the principal use on the site to already be a personal service establishment, a medical office, or a fitness center, with massage services offered only as an accessory function. The floor-area cap is explicit, the total area devoted to massage services must cover less than 20% of the gross floor area of the principal use, keeping massage secondary to whatever the primary business is.

The code's definitions section separately defines a MASSAGE FACILITY as an establishment whose principal use is massage therapy provided by a state-licensed professional, and it carves out licensed physicians, chiropractors, and other state-licensed medical professionals from that definition entirely, so clinical massage performed by a licensed medical provider is not swept into this conditional-use standard. Notably, Newark's zoning code separately classifies personal service establishments, like barber shops, beauty parlors, and nail salons, as expressly excluding massage facilities and body art studios from that broader category, which is why massage needed its own conditional-use section rather than falling under the general personal-service use.