Code Amendment DCA256-004
View full legal title
Consideration of amending Section 51A-13.306 of the Dallas City Code to list “Tattoo and body piercing” as an example of permitted personal service uses instead of as an example of prohibited personal service uses in form-based zoning districts. ZOAC Recommendation: Approval. Staff Recommendation: Approval. Planner: Michael Wade Council District: Citywide DCA256-004
Get notified on new hearings, votes, or status changes for this matter.
Actions
Showing all 4 actions. Filter by: , , , .
Obtain adopted ordinance text amending personal service use list
Why now: The matter record shows the item was carried 8-1 by the City Plan Commission on June 11, 2026 with the notation that it was approved outside Council and no later procedural step is verified.
What to do: Request the final adopted ordinance amending Section 51A-13.306 and its effective date from the city secretary before advising any client that tattoo or body piercing is a permitted use in a form-based district. The supplied record documents only a June 11 commission vote and states no later procedural step is verified, so whether the code text has actually changed is an open question you should not assume.
Act before: After the adopted ordinance and its effective date are produced
Recheck form-based district sites for newly allowed tattoo studios
Why now: The City Plan Commission carried the amendment 8-1 on June 11, 2026 to move "Tattoo and body piercing" from the prohibited to the permitted personal service examples in Section 51A-13.306, citywide, with staff and ZOAC both recommending approval.
What to do: Pull your leasing and site-plan files for parcels in Dallas form-based zoning districts where a tattoo or body piercing tenant was previously screened out as a prohibited personal service use, and re-underwrite those spaces for that tenant class. Confirm the amended text of the code section is in effect before committing to a tenant, because the record shows only a commission-level approval.
Act before: After the next material record update
Ask why tattoo code amendment carries two file numbers
Why now: The matter is tracked as DCA256-004 while the official item text on the June 11, 2026 agenda ends with DCA256-007, and the item carried 8-1 with Carpenter against after items were heard out of order.
What to do: Ask planning staff and the city secretary to reconcile the two case numbers attached to this single amendment and to produce the docket and minutes showing which number the commission actually acted on. Also ask Commissioner Carpenter, the lone dissenter, what objection was raised when both staff and the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee recommended approval.
Act before: After the requested records are produced
Check whether your street sits in a form-based district
Why now: On June 11, 2026 the City Plan Commission voted 8-1, with only Commissioner Carpenter opposed, to list tattoo and body piercing as a permitted rather than prohibited personal service use in form-based districts citywide.
What to do: Look up whether your block is in one of Dallas's form-based zoning districts, because tattoo and body piercing shops would move from the prohibited list to the permitted list of personal service uses there, meaning they could open as a matter of right without a separate neighborhood hearing. If you want to weigh in, do it while the change is still moving rather than after a storefront applies for permits.
Act before: After the next material record update
Timeline
Consideration of amending Section 51A-13.306 of the Dallas City Code to list “Tattoo and body piercing” as an example of permitted personal service uses instead of as an example of prohibited personal service uses in form-based zoning districts. ZOAC Recommendation: Approval. Staff Recommendation: Approval. Planner: Michael Wade Council District: Citywide DCA256-007
Vote: 8 for, 1 against, 5 absent
recommend approval of amending Section 51A-13.306 to list 'Tattoo and body piercing' as permitted personal service uses in form-based zoning districts
Items heard out of order - Commission heard Subdivision Consent agenda items next