Only a few inked residents blasted Westminster’s proposed tattoo parlor ban at a public hearing Monday, but body-art aficionados attributed the low turnout to some citizens saying their comments mean nothing.

“We’ve seen that their minds are already made up,” said Jason Nightingale, owner of Tiki Tattoo on Greenwood Avenue, after the hearing.

The hearing “is just for show,” he said.

Westminster Common Council is considering a zoning amendment that would outlaw tattoo parlors from downtown because they don’t coincide with the city wanting to “capitalize on its historic Main Street,” Councilman Gregory Pecoraro said.

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“As far as history, tattoos are thousands of years old,” said Ian Wicks, a Tiki customer.

Under the new ordinance, tattoo shops would still be allowed in 70 percent of Westminster’s commercial land, mostly along the highways outside of town, according to City Planner Erik Fisher.

Planners researched municipalities nationwide and learned that in many towns, parlors are either banned outright or relegated to industrial land, Fisher said.

“This is a middle-of-the-road approach,” he said.

Among the residents who testified was Polly Hewitt, who hit a roadblock in recent months when she tried to relocate her Tattooed Angel shop from Route 27 outside of town to Pennsylvania Avenue.

After Westminster told Hewitt and her husband, Bob Hewitt, that their new location, 58 Pennsylvania Ave., was commercial, the pair scheduled a grand reopening this winter.

But the city has stonewalled the relocation, saying that the building was incorrectly labeled commercial, instead of residential, on a zoning map. The Hewitts are now investigating a move to two other locations on Main Street.

“It’s a shame that in 2007, we can’t allow” parlors, said Virginia Hof, who had her permanent makeup done at Tattooed Angel.

Darcel Harris, a Pennsylvania Avenue resident, said that while she wasn’t against tattoos, she wanted the council to remember how that “fragile block” has struggled to eradicate drugs and crime.

The public can submit comment to the city until 4:30 p.m. Feb. 2.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com