Tattoo Parlor Needles Officials : It Makes Impression on Placentia Zoning Laws

When the city’s first tattoo parlor opened in November, it did so with surprising ease. There were no requirements for Grant Lawther, owner of the Ink Well, to appear before the Planning Commission or the City Council, and no special restrictions were placed on his business.

In fact, Lawther’s application for a business license was granted so easily that it left the City Council wondering about the lack of control over the types of businesses moving into the city.

“It seems like we aren’t doing a very good job of monitoring” what kinds of the businesses are opening, Councilwoman Maria Moreno said at a recent council meeting. “Why didn’t we know about this before?”

The reason the council didn’t find out about the tattoo parlor until after it opened was because Placentia has no ordinances or zoning requirements that would trigger a public hearing or review by the council.

But that changed earlier this month when the council approved three ordinances that will ensure that businesses such as tattoo parlors will have to be approved at least by the Planning Commission.

One of the ordinances requires tattoo shop owners to apply for a permit, which allows the city to dictate a variety of conditions, such as hours of operation and how many parking spaces are needed.

The permit process also requires a public hearing before the Planning Commission. If a council member appeals the decision by the Planning Commission, the City Council will also hold a public hearing. Residents can petition council members to appeal a commission decision. The council can deny a permit for virtually any reason.

Under a new zoning ordinance, tattoo parlors, massage parlors and acupressure establishments will not be allowed in certain parts of the city, such as Placita Santa Fe, the city’s historic downtown area.

The third ordinance lists 20 regulations that tattoo parlors must follow, from requiring tattoo operators to wear “clean, light-colored short-sleeve smocks,” to specifying how a client’s skin should be prepared before a tattoo is applied. This ordinance, but not the zoning and conditional-use requirements, would apply to the Ink Well.

There is little about the Ink Well to suggest that it should cause much consternation among council members or residents. Squeezed between a liquor store and a secondhand shop, the 500-square-foot tattoo parlor is scarcely noticeable from the street.

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The Ink Well is on Bradford Avenue in a strip mall-style shopping center in an aging section of town. While a few houses are nearby, the area is predominantly retail and office buildings. Other businesses in the area include a pizza restaurant, travel agency, video store and carpet store.

The owners and employees of four nearby businesses said the tattoo parlor had caused no problems and was an asset to the shopping center.

“There has been no trouble,” said a woman who identified herself only as the owner of Elsie’s Travel and Services. “They are fine neighbors.”

But several council members, who said tattoo parlors do not portray the right image, pushed for even stricter requirements. Moreno and Councilman Michael L. Maertzweiler both opposed allowing tattoo parlors and similar businesses in the city’s most visible retail and commercial areas.

“Maybe I’m too traditional, but so many families use these areas for so many things,” Maertzweiler said. “If we allow (tattoo parlors) at all, I don’t want to see them in the center of town.”

Shop owner Lawther, who employs one other tattoo artist, said his clients include physicians, lawyers and teachers. With prices starting at $25 a square inch, Lawther said the people who get tattoos at his shop shouldn’t be seen as potential trouble for the city.

So where are the bikers in leather and chains, the gang members, the undesirable element some council members fear will scare residents away from other businesses in the area?

“Not here,” Lawther said. “Not in my place. Those types get tattoos on the street, from friends with homemade instruments. We’re more low-key. The people who come here are here for the art.”

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Eric Capps of Huntington Beach, who was at the Ink Well recently, agreed. He said that Freddy Von Musser, who had just tattooed Capps’ name in blue, Old English-style letters on Capps’ left arm, was an artist.

“I have another tattoo on my leg that was done with a homemade (tattoo) gun,” the 20-year-old Capps said. “It’s really sloppy, and you can tell the difference.”

Tim Perez, an actor from Laguna Beach who was having his ex-wife’s name covered with a new tattoo, said he followed Von Musser from a tattoo parlor in San Clemente to the Ink Well because he admires his work.

“He’s the best,” said Perez, 27, whose arms are covered with Native American symbols and mythical figures.

Lawther calls his work the “ultimate art form.” He is as proud of the Native American symbols, animals and other designs he draws on his clients’ skin as the oil paintings he creates on canvas.

“You hear these stereotypes about tattoo parlors, about the people who get tattoos,” Lawther said. “But a lot of respectable people get tattoos now.”