Marlborough Mesa

Zoning panel puts strings on tattoo parlor opening

By Sarah N. Lynch, Tribune
May 21, 2006

Ignorance of the law does not excuse mistakes, but what about when someone makes an honest ?— and potentially costly ?— error? Last week, the Mesa Planning and Zoning Board wrestled with that question when a 24-year-old tattoo shop owner pleaded with board members to grant a council use permit so he can open a shop that he?’s already spent his life savings to create.

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In the end, Kelly Garnett came one step closer to finally being able to open his shop?’s doors.

Garnett has been unable to open his tattoo shop on Alma School Road because of a local ordinance that requires tattoo shops to be at least 1,200 feet away from another tattoo shop or a school ?— in this case Dobson High School.

Even though his tattoo parlor, Damage Ink, is nearly a quarter-mile drive away, the city does not measure by driving distance. Instead, it is measured by ?“as the crow flies,?” leaving Damage Ink 200 feet short of the requirement, city staff said.

City staff recommended at Thursday night?’s meeting that the board deny Garnett?’s request, but board members were not so quick to agree.

Garnett?’s plight has been at the center of a neighborhood controversy since April. Garnett insists that city staff never told him about the distance requirement until he was just about to open. He said his shop would be ?“classy?” and ?“tasteful.?”

The board hemmed and hawed throughout the hearing, making as many as four motions before they were finally able to agree.

After failing to garner enough support to deny the permit, the board wound up approving it ?— with numerous strings attached.

Board chairman Rich Adams conceded the zoning ordinance has ?“vague language,?” but noted Garnett should have known better.

?“This is going to sound callous, but ignorance of the law is no excuse,?” Adams said.

The board eventually recommended granting the use permit on the following conditions:

?• No loitering will be allowed around the tattoo parlor.

?• The city is allowed to inspect the shop in one year to make sure Garnett is complying.

?• Garnett must agree not to provide tattoos to minors.

?• If Garnett ever sells the business, the council use permit may not be passed on to the next owner.

?• The shop must comply with specific design, code and sign requirements.

The board?’s final recommendation will now be forwarded to the City Council for a final vote.

When the decision was announced, Garnett appeared confused about whether or not he?’d triumphed after the hourlong hearing.

?“I was pretty sure I understood what they were saying at the end, but before I left the podium, I wanted to be sure,?” Garnett said a day after the meeting.

Adams indicated that Garnett had won this battle, but there was still more to come.

?“In other words, you get to do this all over again,?” Adams said.

Contact Sarah N. Lynch by email, or phone (480) 898-6535

Planned tattoo shop faces re-2pt

Planned tattoo shop faces removal
Business violates Mesa ordinance, opponents say

Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
May. 25, 2006 12:00 AM

A proposal to open a tattoo studio near Dobson High School has set off a cultural clash that pits residents saying they are trying to protect their neighborhood against a young man's dream of operating his own business.

Despite opposition from the nearby Marlborough Mesa neighborhood, the Dobson Ranch Homeowners Association and city planning staffers, the Planning and Zoning Board has recommended that the City Council approve a permit for the studio, Damage Ink.

The owner, Kelly Garnett, 24, of Chandler, wrote an e-mail to Marlborough Mesa leaders saying: ''I don't want scumbags any more than you do, and I do not create an environment that will draw in trash.''

But neighborhood opponents and planning staffers say the studio is too close to the school under city ordinance banning tattoo establishments within 1,200 feet of a school. Dobson High is 980 feet away.

''The ordinance is there to protect children,'' said Linda Murphy, 44, a Marlborough Mesa neighborhood activist. ''Why do we want to give written permission to break a law? I see no benefit to the community.''

Garnett said residents are feeding off outdated motorcycle-gang stereotypes of tattoo businesses and are refusing to give him a chance. Garnett said he has invested $40,000 in the building on Alma School Road just south of Guadalupe Road.

''They are trying to strip me of my life savings and my livelihood,'' he said. ''How can I not take that personally?''

Rich Adams, Planning and Zoning Board chairman, said he doesn't see how the studio would pose a threat to the area.

''I know quite a few respectable people who have tattoos,'' Adams said. ''I think what you saw was an effort on our part to broadly interpret this ordinance to give this kid a break.''

Murphy, along with Alma Jones, a longtime Marlborough Mesa community leader, is circulating petitions asking the council for a ''no'' vote.

''I am not prejudiced against tattoos,'' Murphy said. ''I still feel they don't belong in a school zone. Half of my neighbors have tattoos, and they signed the petitions.''

She wrote in an e-mail to the subdivision Web site: ''Rules such as these are put in place to preserve quality neighborhoods and protect schools.''

Jones said she is worried that if the council grants a permit, similar businesses, such as pawnshops, would come to the neighborhood.

''If you see one, you will see others. They kind of group together,'' she said.

John Wesley, the city's zoning administrator, said Damage Ink's proposal is only the third since the pawnshop and tattoo ordinance was passed in January 1998.

The ordinance requires a permit to open any tattoo studio, he said. It also bans pawnshops and body piercing in areas 1,200 feet or less from a school.

But the ordinance reads that exceptions can be made ''if there are significant intervening physical features'' between the school and the business.

Wesley said one use permit was granted for a tattoo studio that is no longer in business. The applicant for the other withdrew the request.

''I think it's important to maintain that distance,'' said Lynda Bailey, of the Dobson Ranch Homeowners Association.

Bailey said the council should establish a precedent by rejecting the permit.

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Frank Mizner, a board member who lives in Dobson Ranch and the city's former zoning director, said it has always been the city's practice to interpret the ordinance as a 1,200 foot distance as a crow flies from schools to the tattoo business.

He said Damage Ink would be in the same small shopping center at Nello's Pizza and the Monart Drawing School.

''It just didn't seem like the right place for it,'' Mizner said.

But Adams said the ordinance is vague, failing to define if the 1,200-foot separation is as a crow flies or how someone would typically walk or drive. He said the buffer between the tattoo business and school includes three or four rows of houses, a tall fence and athletic fields.

Dobson High Principal Steve Green said he knows little about the controversy.

''I guess if the law was put there, there must be a reason,'' Green said.

Fight this in Council

Neighbors - show up to the council meeting in force. Council pays attention to numbers in the audience. Only one or two need to speak, but others need to be present. Bring kids too - lots of them.


By Debbie Driscol