By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — A new tattoo parlor will begin operations in a currently empty building on Roosevelt Street after the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals granted their exception request Monday, June 26, while a Fort Wayne law firm received permission for increased signage for their office at a downtown bank.

Tyce Johnson requested a special exception Monday from the BZA to allow a tattoo parlor to be located within a Commercial-2 zoning district at 129 Roosevelt St., owned by Hawk Rentals LLC.

Tattoo parlors are permitted by special exception in this zoning district, City Planner Justin Taylor told the board. The petitioner stated that their hours of operation will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and that they typically see five to seven clients a day.

Under the city’s special exception requirements, tattoo parlors shall be permitted in the Commercial-2, C-3, C-5 and Industrial-2 and I-3 zone districts, provided that the parlors are located a minimum distance of 400 feet from any church building, licensed day care center, public park, school building, school playground or school parking lot, public library or residentially zoned district or residential usage within a commercially zoned district, whether single-family, two-family or multi-family usage, according to city code.

Taylor said, “As tattooing becomes more socially acceptable, it becomes important to embrace these changing attitudes. Many cities of comparable size to Warsaw have loosened the restrictions on tattoo parlors.

“Tattoo shops are immune to the negative impacts that e-commerce has on retail businesses. Research shows that vacant properties have been associated with higher crime rates, reduced property values, elevated risks of fire and negative public health impacts,” Taylor continued.

“During a time when we are experiencing a nationwide increase in storefront vacancies, attracting and promoting sustainable businesses is important enough to consider a variance of this kind. For these reasons, it is the opinion of the Planning Department that this variance could be ruled favorably, when measured by the criteria delineated within the findings of fact,” he concluded.

Board President Tammy Dalton said it was an existing building and there’s plenty of parking spaces in the area for the business.

Johnson said he and his fiancee are both local tattoo artists and they’ve been tattooing for a couple years.

“Pretty much, we just want to come together and open up our own shop,” he said.

Board Vice President Rick Keeven asked how many employees they would have. Johnson said it would be him, his fiancee and an apprentice. Since they are by appointment, Johnson said their hours would fluctuate but the “ballpark” hours would be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Dalton said, “I’m going to ditto Justin’s comments about the fact that it’s nice to see someone (in there) because I know that building, I go by there all the time … but that building has been sitting empty for a good year and a half since it was sold a year and a half or two ago, so it’s nice to see someone want to do something in it.”

There were no remonstrators to the petition, and the board unanimously approved the petition

Carson Law LLP requested a variance from development standards to allow additional square footage on an existing nonconforming sign at 402 E. Center St., owned by First Federal Savings Bank.

Taylor told the board this portion of Center Street is within a Commercial-4 zoning district.

The petitioner would like to add a 7.5-square-foot signage cabinet underneath the existing electronic messaging board. Taylor said the addition of this small cabinet will not obstruct vision and clearance and would not create a detrimental impact on surrounding properties.

Under freestanding sign regulations for a C-4 zoning district, one sign is permitted per lot and it shall not exceed 32 square feet in area and 8 feet in height. C-4 zoning does not permit multiple freestanding signs on corner lots.

“This parcel, while in a C-4 zoning district, is more similar to lots found within arterial commercial districts where larger signs are permitted,” Taylor said.

Based on the information provided and the findings of facts, he recommended that the board grant the variance from development standards to allow the sign cabinet to be placed under the electronic messaging board.

Andy Boxberger, partner with Carson Law in Fort Wayne, said, “We are excited to open our first office here in Warsaw at this location, and this sign is to help obviously advertise that.”

He said the 7-1/2-foot box sign would just have the law firm’s name on it.

With no remonstrators, the board unanimously approved the petition.

In the last of the three petitions before the board Monday, Aaron Wilcoxson originally requested a variance from development standards to construct a fence in the front yard at 1015 Country Club and along the south side of 729 and 733 Ireland Drive. However, Taylor told the board, a change in the request had been made.

The petitioner owns four contiguous lots and would like to erect a fence to help protect the property from deer.

The proposed fence would be a wood frame with steel cables. This type of fence has a high level of opacity so it would not be as intrusive as a privacy fence. Taylor said the proposed fence will not be injurious to public health, and Wilcoxson “has been sensitive to his neighbors’ with the fence that he’s proposing.”

Taylor recommended the board grant the variance.

“Now the change that they requested … they’ve talked to some of their neighbors that had some initial concerns with this proposal and, after speaking with them myself, they decided to pull back the fence that went closer to Country Club Drive than the residence. … They would still need a variance for the section on Ireland Drive,” he said.

Wilcoxson said his primary focus with the fence was to keep the deer out as he’s restoring his property to be like an Indiana habitat with native plants to be good for the lakes and create a habitat that’s amenable to animals, minus the deer.

Dalton asked Wilcoxson to clarify where the fence will be.

“So the idea would be to fence in as much of that property with the exception of 1015 Country Club, if that makes sense. So, right now, 1015 Country Club, the front yard mostly fronts Country Club. We wouldn’t put a fence in that anymore, I know that was in the original application. We’ll still likely put a privacy fence where there is one existing, we’ll just reconstruct it, but stop that adjacent to the front of the house there. Then, basically, the fencing would extend east and west to the lake,” he said.

There were no remonstrators to the petition and the board approved it unanimously.