A split vote of 4-3 divided Bedford’s City Council Tuesday night over a tattoo parlor.  After months of unanimous votes, four members of the Council – Nichelle Dawkins, Rich Steves, Steve Farco and Mayor Pro Tem Rob Gagliardi – voted to approve a zoning change through a Specific Use Permit (SUP) to allow Virtuoso, a tattoo and body piercing shop, to move into a strip mall storefront.  The mall is located at 1745 Airport Freeway, just east of Forest Ridge Drive.  Mayor Dan Cogan and Council Members Amy Sabol and Joy Donovan Brandon voted in opposition to the SUP.

Background

According to an introductory presentation to the Council by Wes Morrison, Bedford’s director of development, an SUP is required in this case for a tattoo and body piercing shop, because the strip mall location falls within the Bedford Commons Planned Unit Development (PUD) and the Highway Mixed Use Character Zone (HMU).  For Bedford, the HMU is intended to include restaurants and retail that improve the drive-by appeal for traffic on Airport Freeway, according to the meeting agenda.  Three other character zones are part of the larger Bedford Commons redevelopment project, which include Regional Retail and Employment, Core Mixed Use and Civic Mixed Use.

Morrison also indicated that the location is designated as Place Focused Commercial (PFC) within the City’s Future Land Use Map, as part of Bedford’s recently approved Comprehensive Master Plan.  The PFC classification, as further detailed by the meeting’s agenda, focuses on “retail, restaurants and entertainment uses.”

Virtuoso’s Owner Makes His Case

In his presentation to Council, Virtuoso’s owner, Mitchell DeSouza, described his business of “tattooing, [body] piercing, logo design, business card design and brochure design” as having been in Hurst for 16 years with a list of at least 100,000 clients.  He stated that he felt his business would contribute to Bedford’s “culture and artistic fabric” and sees his shop as “a vibrant community hub, fostering a welcoming environment for patrons” and “artistic talents.”

Addressing Mayor Cogan’s questions of “Why Bedford?  Why now?” DeSouza said he wants to move his family-owned business to Bedford as a result of a change of ownership of the strip mall where he is located, in Hurst.  He explained to Cogan and the rest of the Council that the new owner in Hurst has refused to handle maintenance issues, which cost his business more than $58,000 last year.  More recently, he said, the last two storms caused the ceiling, piping and electrical to cave in, costing him another $4,000 in repairs.

In response to additional questions from Cogan, DeSouza said this new Bedford location is ideal for his clients who may need to wait two or three hours, since there are restaurants at the mall and can entertain themselves with other nearby amenities.  Basically, he pointed out, “They’ll spend money while they’re in town.”

Council Debates the SUP

Mayor Pro Tem Gagliardi pointed out that in the 10 years since planning started for that area around Bedford Commons, “We haven’t done anything” concrete toward developing the project.

Council Member Steves echoed Gagliardi, stating that Bedford Commons is apparently being developed “piecemeal,” with the northern sector, along Bedford Road, being planned first and the businesses, such as the location of the proposed tattoo parlor, on the southern edge of the project and along Airport Freeway, being held “hostage” in the meantime.  

Concerned about the City receiving sales tax revenue from the tattoo business, Council Member Donovan Brandon asked for clarification on whether tattooing is considered a “service.”

City Manager Andrea Roy responded to Donovan Brandon by stating that “the actual service of tattooing and body piercing is not taxable.”  However, she continued, products that might be sold, as far as T-shirts and things like that would be a taxable transaction.”

A concern for Council Member Sabol was that “we should probably change the ordinance” rather than allowing an exception through an SUP because, if we let one tattoo shop in, then another SUP will come up.”

As the Council continued deliberating over the issue, Council Member Donovan-Brandon stated her opposition to issuing an SUP for the tattoo parlor, saying that “just a few weeks ago” the City spent $140,000 on unanimously approving the Comprehensive Plan and “we’re already looking to throw it out!”

Further, she said, “there’s other places in Bedford,” such as the newly designated Stonegate District, along Brown Trail, south of Airport Freeway.  That area, she added, specifically referring to Turning Point, is intended as the “funky area” of the City.

On a second point, Donovan Brandon said that because this strip mall on Airport Freeway “is such a great location,” she would rather see another establishment move in that does pay sales tax.

Appearing at first to rationalize both sides of the argument, Mayor Cogan commented that the mall is “close to meeting” the Place Focused Commercial qualifications, but “we have to take a bigger view of this” by adhering to the Comprehensive Plan.

Gagliardi stated that he agreed with Steves because “two years ago, we ran off a perfectly good business trying to fill a spot in that same shopping center because we thought it was the entrance to Bedford Commons.” Although the Council is once again looking at developing the project, he acknowledged, “we’ve been through four developers [and] we still don’t have a plan.”

Gagliardi also argued that this is a good location for this business because of its proximity to Harley Davidson and a second motorcycle dealership, as well as several restaurants and “a hot rod shop that had to fight to get there.”

Building on that thought, Gagliardi continued, saying that “I see people commenting all day online saying, ‘why are we not filling these shopping centers?’”  So, he concluded, that he and the Council have to “stop saying ‘no’ to people.”

Mayor Cogan concurred with Gagliardi that “we’ve got to fill our shopping centers,” but, he questioned, is it being “shortsighted?”