The Hermosa Beach Planning Commission is recommending that the Hermosa City Council ban tattoo parlors – and all other businesses – from piercing the navels and other body parts of customers within Hermosa Beach.
The commission voted 4-0, with Sam Perrotti absent, to formally recommend the piercing ban, along with 9 p.m. closing times for tattoo parlors, one hour earlier than the current city ordinance allows.
The current ordinance allowing tattoo parlors, and allowing them to offer body piercing, was approved by the City Council after a citywide ban on tattoo parlors was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.
A number of residents, concerned that the parlors will become community nuisances, insisted that the council narrow its ordinance by imposing more restrictions on the businesses, including banning them from piercing customers.
The council took the unusual step of asking the Planning Commission to review its already-approved ordinance, and the commission on Tuesday formally recommended the piercing ban, the 9 p.m. closing time, and a ban on tattoo parlors near parks and schools.
The ordinance already restricts the parlors from locating within 1,500 feet of each other in the Pier Plaza-Hermosa Avenue commercial area, and more than 1,000 feet of each other along the Aviation Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway commercial corridors.
Tattoo parlors are effectively banned from upper Pier Avenue because its commercial uses are limited by “specific plan area” regulations.
Four tattoo parlors have secured permits to open in Hermosa, and at least two have opened their doors. Under the existing ordinance, city officials said a total of seven tattoo parlors could open in town, and the commission’s recommendations would reduce that to five, or possibly six.
Mapping the commission’s restrictions, officials said a parlor could theoretically open at PCH and Gould Avenue. It was not clear whether a tattoo parlor could open at the Hermosa Pavilion mall, which might be too close to other existing parlors.
