NJ Officials Review Outdated Rule After Receiving Inquiry About Opening an Art and Tattoo Business in Town

Posted on October 8, 2018
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI

A business looking to call downtown North Judson home has town officials reviewing an old rule. Clerk-Treasurer Andrew Rowe alerted town council members last Monday that business owner Hannah Minix previously ran an art and tattoo shop in Winamac and recently rented a place on Lane Street.

Rowe noted that Minix has been doing some remodeling and has plans to update the façade of the building. He added that she’s also coordinating with the school corporation to promote the arts and indicated that the presence of her business would be in line with steps the town is taking to revitalize downtown.

The Clerk-Treasurer told the members that jewelry and art will be for sale and Minix wishes to continue her tattoo business as well. Due to that element of the business, Rowe consulted the town’s codes and ordinances to check for any existing regulations dealing with tattoo parlors.

Rowe mentioned he ran into a bit of an issue when he found some conflicting information. While he was unable to find anything that referenced tattoo shops in the most recent code book from 2008, he did discover an ordinance that was passed in 2002 which prohibited them from being established anywhere in town.

A resident spoke up and said he believed that was copied from a rule originally passed in the late 1990s and thought the current codebook contained a rule in the zoning section. However, Rowe said that he and Billing Clerk Jennifer Vanek have reviewed the book thoroughly and haven’t been able to find any reference to tattooing.

Town Attorney Justin Schramm weighed in on the matter, referring to it as “problematic.”

He told members, “This ordinance right here, I have big problems with it from a constitutional perspective, you’re prohibiting a certain type of business and you really can’t do that.” Schramm continued, “There’s a plethora of case law out there that says you can’t restrict business, you can just make time, manner and place restrictions.”

He recommended repealing the current rule with an ordinance and drafting a different, more specific rule that would have any potential zoning restrictions or other health regulations that they’d like to include. That could then be passed in the form of an ordinance that would be incorporated into their official code book.

With a unanimous vote, council members permitted Schramm to draw up an ordinance that would repeal the aforementioned rule that prohibits tattoo parlors in the Town of North Judson.