By Nate Jones
Staff Writer

For the next six months, South Portland residents may have to travel outside the city limits to satisfy their ink or piercing needs.
On Tuesday, the city council narrowly passed the first reading to enact a moratorium restricting the establishment or operation of a tattoo and body piercing establishments with a 4-3 vote with councilors Tom Blake, Linda Boudreau and James Hughes in the minority.
South Portland Code Enforcement Officer Patricia Doucette said if approved, the moratorium would not pertain to piercing establishments such as the Piercing Pagoda or Claire’s in the Maine Mall, as the moratorium does not restrict ear lobe piercing.
“I guess if it was a nose, mouth or bellybutton piercing this moratorium would still apply,” she said.
The drafting of the moratorium was sparked when Jeffrey Beaudoin, a South Portland native and tattoo artist who previously established shops in Florida and New Hampshire, applied for a license to operate a tattoo parlor, Infinity Tattoo, on Broadway last month.
“We didn’t want to open in Portland, there are already nine shops there,” he said. “We figured since we would be the first in South Portland we’d be real busy.”
While Beaudoin said the city originally granted him a business license, his landlord later told him he had been contacted by City Planner Tex Hauser, who informed them of an upcoming law to limit the presence of tattoo parlors within 50 feet of a residential area, making the location unsuitable for the new business.
“I was real surprised,” Beaudoin said.
While waiting to see what the city would do, Beaudoin said he discovered another building in Standish for his new business that was “double the space, half the cost and a better location.”
Just as Beaudoin shifted his sights on the new location, Hauser drafted a moratorium which would temporarily ban tattoo and body piercing parlors from being established and operated within city limits.
 “I knew it was something that needed an official interpretation,” Hauser said. “One of the reasons for the moratorium is to give us a chance to talk to people like [Beaudoin].”
If passed, it will be the first moratorium the city has enacted since 2005.
“To me, a moratorium is an emergency,” Councilor Tom Blake said on Tuesday. “This is not a moratorium situation.
Blake said he would not support an ordinance requiring tattoo parlors to conduct background checks for employees.
“We’re going someplace here we should not go,” he said.
Although he supported a moratorium “to give [councilors] a breather,” Councilor Claude Morgan said he also has reservations about approving any ordinance that seems biased toward tattoo parlors.
“It smacks a bit of discrimination,” he said.
In the eight years Beaudoin has been a tattoo artist, he has serviced “all walks of life,” including police and firefighters, doctors, city officials and the elderly.
“It’s become more and more accepted now,” he said.
Beaudoin says his tattoo parlor in Standish will open its doors officially on June 10. Standish currently does not have a law concerning tattoo parlors, and no new ordinances have been proposed as of press time.
“Everybody’s real excited about it,” Beaudoin said.

Beekeeping ordinance approved

The council was also divided in approving an addition to the city’s “animal and fowl” regulations concerning a beekeeping ordinance. For more than two months the council has debated the ordinance, proposing up to 20 “beekeeper friendly” amendments and eventually approving nearly a dozen.
Blake, who was unsupportive of the ordinance during two previous workshops, said he is puzzled by the council’s action.
“What’s motivating this ordinance?” he asked. “It certainly isn’t citizen complaints or concern.”
Boudreau said she believes the city is taking a proactive approach.
 “We don’t need to wait until we have six complaints,” she said.
South Portland resident Phil Gammon reminded councilors of their duty to represent the public shortly before they approved the ordinance.
“There has been an enormous outpouring of people against [the ordinance.] Who is for it?” he asked. “You need to take a strong look at what the purpose is of this council. Are you representing the people?”
Boudreau said most of the opposition for the ordinance came from outside the city limits, and did not necessarily reflect the desires of South Portland residents.
The ordinance was approved by a 5-2 vote with councilors Blake and Kay Loring in the minority.