Tattooing discussion renewed
By ELENA GRIMM - egrimm@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – The DeKalb City Council could soon consider an ordinance detailing requirements for tattooing businesses within the city.
A move in that direction would thrill Kenny Weinstock, who owns a downtown body-piercing shop and would like to add tattooing to his menu of services.
Tattooing has effectively been banned in DeKalb – it can be done only by a licensed physician. Nearby Cortland allows tattooing businesses, and Sycamore recently crafted its own ordinance after the city was approached by a tattoo parlor owner looking to open a shop in town.
Weinstock spoke up Monday night to the city council, asking members to consider long-term guidelines for tattooing in the city as they considered a request for a temporary tattooing permit for Pierce Harley-Davidson.
“In my opinion, I feel that the reason they banned tattooing in the City of DeKalb was because they could not protect public health because it was not regulated,” he said. “Now that it is regulated, I feel that that ordinance is no longer valid.”
New state regulations for tattooing and body piercing went into effect this year. In response, Weinstock is bringing his store up to speed in hopes that the city will follow the state’s lead. He’s added more rooms, sinks and plumbing. He has already applied for the state license, and is awaiting inspections of his facility in July.
Weinstock said Tuesday that he hadn’t planned on approaching the city about creating a permit until he gets licensed by the state later this year, but that Pierce Harley-Davidson’s inquiry “opened up the can of worms.”
Pierce had asked the city about tattooing because they wanted to offer it to their customers at a July 11 pre-concert event at the store on Peace Road. The city council rejected, in a 5-1 vote, an ordinance Monday that would have allowed tattooing at special events on a temporary basis.
But the discussion may boomerang in two weeks under a new light – to create a procedure for businesses to tattoo rather than on an event basis, Mayor Kris Povlsen said.
Povlsen said that, historically, tattooing has been banned because of the stigma associated with it and because of inadequate health standards. With the new state guidelines, he said, “that may make it more palatable to the community.” Povlsen said that, for now, he is neither for nor against allowing tattoo parlors in DeKalb.
But Povlsen and Weinstock agreed that individuals or businesses should be permitted by the city only if they hold a state license.
DeKalb’s discussion comes on the heels of a similar one in Sycamore, where in April city leaders voted to allow tattoo parlors to be set up in specific business districts with a special use permit. Second Ward Alderman Chuck Stowe, who also is a plan commission member, said that he favored the idea because tattooing has “become pretty mainstream” and because there wasn’t much opposition by residents.
The biggest concern was that health regulations be adhered to, Stowe added.
