The St. Louis County Planning Commission voted unanimously May 1 to recommend a tattoo parlor in the shopping center at the intersection of Heege and Mackenzie roads.

The commission voted 8-0 at its May executive session for the tattoo parlor, which was a request from Azra Selimovic for amended C-8 zoning to operate a tattoo parlor at 8005 Mackenzie Road.

The entire shopping center is zoned C-8 planned commercial and permits all C-2 commercial uses. In a typical C-2 district, tattoo parlors require a conditional use permit, however, since the shopping center is technically zoned C-8 planned commercial, Selimovic’s request is a request for an additional use to the already existing permitted uses in the shopping center, which are C-2.

The store front is 1,320 square feet and the tattoo parlor would be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

“It will be an upscale and luxury tattoo parlor where tattoo newbies and collectors will be able to work with experienced and highly-skilled tattoo artists,” Selimovic said at the petition’s public hearing in April.

According to Selimovic, it would be the first Bosnian-owned tattoo parlor in Missouri.

“Personally, in my Bosnain culture, it’s much more than just an attachment to industry. Tattooing was used to protect their children … and their tattoos were a reminder of their family heritage and home,” Selimovic said. “The traditional tattoos of the traditional protection symbols and family symbols are still being practiced by people like me.”

Aside from Selimovic, the parlor employs one other artist but has plans to add two more artists sometime within the first year of business.

“I’m very picky on who I hire,” Selimovic said.

There were some concerns from commissioners that permitting the tattoo parlor in the shopping center would open it up to also permitting package liquor stores but Planning Department Manager Mel Wilson clarified that package liquor stores were already a permitted use in the shopping center under its current zoning.

“C-8 is the district, but instead of saying proposed use office, retail, restaurant, library, post office, police station you can say … the whole range of uses for a multi-tenant center like this would be the range of the C-2 permitted uses,” Wilson said. “(Package liquor and payday loan centers) are permitted right now in the C-8 that exists but the public hearing for that was in 2007 when this first went to C-8. … Essentially the only new use here would be the tattoo parlor,” Wilson said.

The commission voted 8-0 in favor.