BRENTWOOD – Tattoo studios may soon be allowed to operate in downtown Brentwood after the City Council took the first step toward amending the Downtown Specific Plan to allow their use.
The Brentwood City Council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to amend the plan and include an administrative design review permit. Applicants would need to show proof of compliance with two sections from the California Health and Safety Code, including informed consent and a medical history questionnaire, before any body art procedures.
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Interim City Manager Darin Gale explained that the process will involve city staff preparing amendments to the Downtown Specific Plan. Those changes must then go to the Planning Commission for review before returning to the City Council for final approval.
“It actually has two readings, and it does not become effective until 30 days after the second reading,” said Gale. “This will not happen overnight, and it will take staff time and resources to put it together and bring it to the Planning Commission for consideration.”
Councilmember Tony Oerlemans and Vice Mayor Pa’tanisha Pierson first brought up the discussion to allow tattoo studios to operate in downtown Brentwood in January on behalf of Calculated Punkture Studio.
The studio, which operates on Brentwood Boulevard, voiced interest in moving into a building on Second Street.
Although some residents supported amending the Downtown Specific Plan to include tattoo studios, some councilmembers questioned whether such businesses were the best idea for what downtown should offer.
in January, the City Council directed staff to gather information on the legal implications and economic development impact before making a final decision.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Pierson said by not allowing tattoo studios downtown it was putting Brentwood “in grave legal danger” as it violates the First Amendment, citing Anderson v. the City of Hermosa Beach.
In the case law, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that tattooing is a “purely expressive activity fully protected by the First Amendment, and that a total ban on such activity is not a reasonable ‘time, place, or manner’ restriction.”
“The case law in Anderson versus the City of Hermosa Beach spoke so loudly that I don’t know why we would even consider not moving this forward,” said Pierson.
Oerlemans said having Calculated Punkture Studio downtown would be a benefit.
Mendoza said while she didn’t have an issue with tattoo shops, she wondered if the city should limit the number of studios downtown.
“While they do create tax revenue, it’s not the same tax revenue as other options we have for downtown,” said Mendoza. “I’m not into having an unlimited number, I’m not OK with that, and I think we should be specific about where they go.”
City Attorney Katherine Wisinski said it was not advisable to put a “numeric cap” on it as it has extensive First Amendment protection.
Wisinski said the City Council could allow tattoo parlors as a permitted use, but specific criteria would need to be met.
“So long as those specific criteria were reasonable as to time, place, and manner, you could approve it as a conditionally permitted use and include certain safeguards about how long it would take to process the application, to ensure that applicants had a chance to get their applications processed in a reasonable amount of time,” said Wisinski. “You could allow this to be approved administratively by staff if certain criteria were met.”
Pierson said there has to be a justifiable reason to restrict the time, space, and manner of such businesses.
“I think when we begin to do that, we muddy up the waters, and legally, I think we’ll get ourselves into quite a pickle if we go down that course,” said Pierson. “I consistently hear well in Brentwood, we did it this way, but if we kept doing it the way we did, I couldn’t be here, so the change of evolution occurs.”
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