Balto. Co. bill would allow tattoo shop in downtown Towson

A Baltimore County councilman is backing legislation to allow a tattoo shop to operate in downtown Towson.

The measure introduced by Councilman David Marks would ease restrictions on tattoo parlors that have been in place in the county for more than 25 years.

Under current county zoning rules, tattoo and body-piercing establishments — and massage parlors and adult entertainment businesses — are restricted to areas zoned for industrial use.

Marks, a Republican who represents Towson, wants to amend the rules to allow tattoo and body-piercing shops in certain business districts, with restrictions.

Tattoo artist Deirdre Aikin has proposed a combination tattoo shop and art gallery in a second-floor loft-like space on York Road at Pennsylvania Avenue above a bank.

Mike Ertel, vice president of the Greater Towson Council of Community Associations, said members of that umbrella group have concerns about the bill. The group is not against tattoos, he said, but members worry that a tattoo shop downtown could become a late-night hangout for students from nearby Towson University and Goucher College.

“What we really don’t want is tattoo shops that are open all night concurrent with bars,” Ertel said. “That’s where we feel things get out of hand.”

Grant Aikin, 47, is working with his wife on the proposed shop.

“I know what [the concerns] are and it’s based on the perception of [tattoo shops drawing] a low-class sort of criminal element or gray area,” he said. “I’m not saying that doesn’t exist in the world and it doesn’t exist in tattooing, but that’s not what my wife and I are bringing to the table.”

Marks’ bill is tailored to the Aikins’ proposal. It restricts such operations to Towson’s commercial business zone, and would apply only for an above-ground space smaller than 3,000 square feet and opened in combination with an art gallery.

Such a business would have to be more than 500 feet from a residence, excluding multifamily dwellings such as apartments, and could not be advertised with neon signs or anything that uses the word “tattoo.” Operating hours would be limited to 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays and 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

“There are numerous restrictions in the legislation,” Marks said.

A similar bill introduced by County Councilman Tom Quirk, a Catonsville Democrat, would allow tattoo shops and body-piercing shops in the Arbutus Commercial Revitalization District. The Arbutus district is within 350 feet of the Baltimore Beltway and adjacent to an industrial zone.

Marks said the two bills are not related, but both reignite the conversation around a decision by the County Council in the mid-1990s to restrict tattoo parlors to industrial zones.

Deirdre Aikin, 47, who attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and has worked for the past six years at a shop in Washington, said she and her husband attempted to open a tattoo shop in Towson 10 years ago but were thwarted by the zoning restrictions. Now that tattoos are more socially acceptable, she said, she hopes the conversation will be different.

According to the Pew Research Center, 23 percent of the U.S. population has a tattoo. That proportion rises to 38 percent of millennials — those aged 26 to 37 — and 32 percent for Generation X-ers, aged 38 to 53.

Marks’ bill is scheduled to be discussed at the council’s Feb. 27 work session. A vote is tentatively scheduled for March 5.