Fireworks flew at St. John’s City Hall last night as a public meeting was held to discuss certain regulations around massage parlours.

A man who says he owns three massage parlours in the City came to address his concerns.

Norm Lush says he wants the process to slow down and that St. John’s is not ready to move forward with lifting the moratorium.

He directly asked Councilor Maggie Burton why they are lifting the moratorium now. He would like to know why nobody came to one of his massage parlours to speak about what they are doing there.

He says he can’t fully staff the parlours he owns, so he asked the room “where is the need?

City Councilor Maggie Burton was at the meeting. She says the intent was always to lift the ban once the development regulations were put in place. City Council had to wait for the province to release the draft regulations in order to begin amending them.

The two main focuses of the meeting were to discuss the name change of “massage parlour” to “body rub parlour” or something completely different. The second being where in the City these massage parlours will be zoned.