OCEANSIDE -- The City Council has effectively shut down and Oceanside Boulevard massage parlor, deeming it inappropriate for the neighborhood.

The business, Ocean Clinic, opened nearly three years ago in the Town and Country shopping center, near Interstate 5.

City staffers told the council Wednesday that they mistakenly gave the owner, Yao Yu Wang, a business license in early 2006. She should have been required to get a special permit, staffers said.

Council members refused to give it to her.

"We don't want this business anywhere in the city," Councilman Jack Feller said. "I'm disgusted that we gave them a business license somehow in this process."

The council's unanimous vote means the small massage parlor, wedged between a boating supply store and a smoke shop, must cease operations. Its lease is set to expire in January.

About 10 Oceanside businesses offer massages, but not all had to get a permit. Hospitals, nursing homes and the like are exempt, a city planner said.

Ocean Clinic was one of four businesses granted licenses by mistake. Of the others, one went out of business, one asked for a permit and received it, and one met with the same denial as Ocean Clinic, a city official said.

Wang showed the council an advertisement Wednesday that showed her business provided acupuncture and holistic therapy, and offered free services to veterans.

But Councilman Jerry Kern said he was troubled by police activity there.

Though there has never been a formal complaint against the business, officers made a prostitution-related arrest in 2006 (the employee was fired) and cited a female therapist a few months ago for working without a license, the police chief wrote in a memo to the council.

"I do feel kind of disappointed that we let this go on for three years without catching it," Kern said. "But you know what, mistakes happen and we have to correct mistakes when we find them."

A handful of residents said the business doesn't belong in the shopping center, where a Smart & Final grocery store is moving in.

"Our children are at risk," resident Donna McGinty said.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 901-4062 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.