Tatt Was Quick

After just three months of advocacy, Wes Fortier can finally start looking for a place in his hometown to open his tattoo studio, a longtime dream that until Tuesday was not possible because of old zoning rules.

Tuesday evening, the Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission voted nearly unanimously — with just one abstention — to strike language from the town’s regulations that placed heavy restrictions on tattoo parlors.

Since 2010, tattoo parlors have been included in a very long and very detailed section of Hamden’s zoning regulations that governs ​“adult-oriented establishments.” While bars and other business that sell alcohol are treated like any other business and can open in any section of town that is zoned to allow commerce, tattoo parlors have been relegated to Hamden’s ​“M” zones. M zones are usually for manufacturing, and there are very few of them in town. Those that do exist would not be conducive to a business trying to be visible and attract clients.

In June, Fortier posted on Facebook about the fact that he cannot open a studio in his hometown because of the regulations. Overnight, his post got over 100 reactions, and within a few days, town officials had gotten involved.

Fortier operates Burning Hearts Tattoo Company in Waterbury, which he opened in 2015. He said he has always wanted to be able to work in Hamden, but because of the regulations, he has had to make the 40-minute commute for years rather than operate a business in town.

Now he can get the ball rolling to open in his hometown. It took only three months for the issue to come before the commission and pass. As Town Planner Dan Kops told the commission Tuesday, the adult-oriented establishments section of the regulations ​“seems terribly antiquated.”

As residents who spoke in the public hearing noted, doing tattoos is an art form, and tattoo studios serve a diverse clientele including people of all walks of life.

“Tattoo studios today are an art center,” resident Andrew Ceccorulli told the commission during the public hearing. ​“They’re landmarks in other towns, especially college towns.”

The section the commission changed formerly included tattoo parlors in a list of other businesses defined as ​“adult personal service businesses.” Tattoo studios are now defined as service establishments for personal or business matters, a designation they will now share with accounting businesses, house cleaning businesses, and nail and hair salons. That means tattoo studios can now open in most parts of town that allow commerce, including along the business-friendly corridors of Dixwell and Whitney Avenues.

Fortier said he has already started looking for places he might be able to open. He said he’s seen two potential sites along Whitney Ave. Whitney would be ideal, he said, because he anticipates getting significant business from Quinnipiac students.

“I’m really happy with how it went,” he said of the process of getting the commission to change its regulations. ​“I was expecting this to drag out for a year.”

Juice Bars?

While the main purpose of the amendment was to strike tattoo parlors from the adult-oriented establishments section of the regulations, the changes also struck a few other lines from the regulations.

In his original Facebook post, Fortier noted that the regulations seem to restrict rap studios to M zones. In one section, the old regulations define adult-oriented entertainment as businesses with a certain layout showing adult videos and other sexual media. The regulations go on to include under the definition any business laid out in a certain way and calling itself ​“an adult entertainment studio, rap studio, exotic dance studio, encounter studio, sensitivity studio, modeling studio, juice bar, or any other term of like import.”

The inclusion of rap studios on that list could be seen as discriminatory, as only rap, a traditionally African American art form, and not other types of music studios are included. The commission struck rap studio, sensitivity studios, modeling studios, and juice bars from the list.

The commission also struck a few other businesses from the list of ​“adult personal service businesses” where tattoo parlors had been. It removed modeling studios, body painting studios, wrestling studios, and individual theatrical performances from that list, along with tattoo parlors. It left ​“exotic rubs” on the list.

The commission also made a small change to the definition of adult cabarets. It removed ​“male or female impersonators” from the list of performance types in the definition. The old regulation could be interpreted to restrict drag performances, which could be seen as discriminatory toward the LGBTQ community.

Fortier said he is happy the commission lumped those other changes into the tattoo parlor change. ​“I can’t just take care of my thing and walk away from it,” he said.

A few terms on the list turned heads among commission members, though. A few members asked whether ​“juice bars” could have a less innocuous meaning than just a business selling juice. As commissioner Robert Cocchiaro pointed out, Urban Dictionary defines ​“juice bar” as a bar or club that can’t legally sell alcohol, and often refers to a strip club that does not serve alcohol.

Any business that involves nudity, though, is already restricted by the rest of the regulations. The commission ended up going ahead and removing juice bars from the regulations.

The amendment is effective Sept. 16.