Massage parlor owner says she'll leave if city doesn't want her - Valley Breeze

[massage]

PAWTUCKET – The owner of the body works spa that was essentially shut down by city officials last week says she’ll “move along if the city doesn’t want me.”

Johnston resident Gina Ruggieri said there are only a few parcels of land in Pawtucket that are pre-zoned for what she needs as she tries to get certified in massage therapy and keep her business open here, and all are located in the Riverfront Commons District created for the future redevelopment of Apex on Main Street.

She told The Breeze that she reached out to the owners of Apex on multiple occasions about renting space for her Simple Serenity business in that landmark building, but hasn’t received a call back.

The Pawtucket Board of Appeals voted last week to reject Ruggieri’s request for a use variance to keep operating at 461 Main St. after members said she and her attorney failed to meet the criteria for the special permission. Ruggieri was cited in the summer for operating in an unapproved zone.

Barney Heath, Pawtucket’s planning and redevelopment director, confirmed that five parcels of land on the Apex site are the only ones in the city where massage therapy is allowed by right. All other body works spas are probably open after getting a special use permit, said Heath, a permit Ruggieri would need to apply for if she were try to reopen in a property not pre-zoned for massage therapy.

Ruggieri said she’s “keeping her options open” on staying in Pawtucket, but didn’t appear hopeful. She said she feels it’s the city’s loss if she takes her business elsewhere, as she’s donated to many local causes. She said she didn’t feel it was fair for officials to shut her down.

Ruggieri said after the Board of Appeals decision on Oct. 26 that she wanted to stay in Pawtucket, but later conceded that her chances of doing so are not good.

According to Ruggieri, she had been operating in the Kellaway Center at 461 Main St. without any licenses for doing so. She said she and her staff offer reflexology and spray-tanning, among other services.

Officials contend that illegal sex acts are regularly happening at Simple Serenity and three other body works spas in the city, as advertised on numerous adult websites, but Ruggieri and her attorney said they had no knowledge of such activities.

According to Ruggieri, she moved to the Kellaway Center from a location at 225 East Ave. in the spring because she believed in the progress being made in the city.

She claims to have invested some $10,000 to rehab four suites in the Kellaway Center complex.

In July, officials cited Simple Serenity for operating without a certificate of zoning compliance. Representatives for the center then requested a zone change to make way for the development of a brewing center on the site.

Under a new designation for the property, the spa was no longer allowed without getting a variance.

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