FAIRBORN — After a number of massage businesses have recently expressed interest in opening up within the City of Fairborn, council opted to place a temporary moratorium April 16 on granting permits to businesses offering massage services.

The purpose of the hold is to allow city officials time to develop regulations on massage businesses opening up in the future within Fairborn. According to City Solicitor Mike Mayer, who presented the item to council for approval, Fairborn has experienced in the past criminal activity within massage businesses.

“This is purely a proactive measure but we have had a couple of cases in Fairborn Municipal Court where our task force have made arrests in businesses offering massages — one inside city limits and one outside,” Mayer said. “Our hope here is that with the 180 days, we can figure out how to regulate these types of businesses to address problems before they occur so that we’re ahead of the game.”

Mayer pointed out that he is aware of at least two additional communities within the Miami Valley who are taking the same action. The moratorium adopted by Fairborn is not to exceed 180 days.

“We can certainly put reasonable business regulations on them. Part of that is figuring out the best way to license these types of businesses because the vast majority fall within proper regulations and [are] law-abiding businesses,” Mayer said. ” … National studies have shown that criminal enterprises are ripe with these types of businesses.”