Politics & Government

Prostitution Leads To Eden Prairie Massage Therapist Licenses

Business that already have a cosmetology license are exempt from the new ordinance.

As of Thursday, Jan. 17, some Eden Prairie massage therapists will need to pay for a license.

According to the Jan. 8 City Council packet, "Staff believes that having a massage ordinance and licensure process in place will discourage prostitution-related businesses from locating in Eden Prairie and will make it easier to investigate and eliminate those businesses that are already here while allowing legitimate businesses to continue to prosper in Eden Prairie."

The City Council packet (see PDFs with this story) does not include specific instances of massage businesses that were involved in prostitution.

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Here are the approved fees:

Therapeutic Massage Enterprise

Find out what's happening in Eden Prairiewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Investigation Fee—$500
  • Annual License Fee—$300 per year

Individual Massage Therapist

  • Investigation Fee—$100
  • Annual License Fee—$50.00 per year

The fees are based on the amount of time the licensing clerk believes it will take to investigate each application.

Businesses in the city that already have a cosmetology license will not have to pay the investigation and licensing fees.

Police Lt. Greg Weber told the Star Tribune, "I think the community at large is happy we're trying to address this activity. We're starting to see an increase in (prostitution). We've made some arrests. I don't know if (the new ordinance) will stop prostitution, but it's an additional tool."

To apply for a license, visit the City Center at 8080 Mitchell Road.

Other cities, such as Apple Valley and Hopkins, have chosen to use that provide that same tool to law enforcement officers.

Other news coverage of the Eden Prairie massage therapy license issue:

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