Tattoo parlor special use zoning changes approved by Sycamore City Council

SYCAMORE – A local tattoo shop owned by late Sycamore alderman and tattoo artist Rick “Spider” Kramer is one step closer to possibly getting a new location in the city’s downtown area.

Sycamore City Manager Brian Gregory said the catalyst for the proposed change was Brian Fleetwood, tattoo artist and eventual owner of Spider Tattooz, approaching city staff with an interest in certain commercial spaces that didn’t allow for tattoo parlors initially. However, Gregory said, the proposed changes have not been tailored to a specific petitioner.

“So this is something that should be considered globally and, on a case by case basis, they would be assessed through this special use process,” Gregory said.

The City Council voted, 8-0, to approve the special use zoning changes during their Monday meeting via Zoom.

The vote comes after the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted, 10-0, on Dec. 14 to recommend the City Council approve classifying tattoo parlors as a special use in certain zoning districts. The proposed changes would mean Spider Tattooz could relocate in certain available business spaces on the main floor as opposed to only being limited to the second floor in some districts.

The special use zoning designation means that, wherever a building use is considered a special use in any zoning district, any petition for the special use in that district is subject to a public hearing and a City Council vote.

Gregory said tattoo parlors previously have been considered a special use for any business space on any building floor in the city’s highway business district but only the second floor in the city’s central business district. He said the changes would allow tattoo parlors as a special use for first and second floors in central business district buildings, provided the petitioned location for the parlor would not in a conservation district.

Fleetwood said the process to request the zoning change got a little confusing with the associated formal language. He said city staff was helpful throughout the process and he’s glad to be able to move to the next step.

“I’m ecstatic right now,” Fleetwood said. “It felt great.”

Fleetwood had said last week he was looking at some possible new locations for the shop, one being just four buildings away from the current location that suffered damage from a fire in the laundromat below the shop in September. He confirmed Monday he submitted a special use permit application for a property that currently is a massage parlor on State Street, which is not far from the current site.

Fleetwood said Kramer was the one who got him started in the tattoo business about 15 years ago. He had said he worked with Kramer before Kramer’s shop moved from Belvidere to Sycamore about 10 years ago.

“It’s definitely something I’m so grateful for,” Fleetwood said. “Everything I know, he taught me. Knowing that, for the past year, he wasn’t able to tattoo, I know he missed the place and I want to keep it going for him and for everyone that supported us.”