Hank's To Fight Sign Ruling, Won't Take Sign Down
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel [email protected]
City officials say that it’s following precedent and to make that conclusion is unfair.
What is known is this: Take Action Tattoo, owned by Jonathan Brown, and Hank’s Tattoo, owned by Hernandez, will be allowed to operate in Warsaw despite not being in compliance with an ordinance.
What they won’t be allowed to do is have any signage saying what it is they do inside their businesses.
That decision, however, appears as if it may be appearing before a judge as Hernandez plans litigation.
And the city’s decision has caused hundreds of comments, whether it be through the Times-Union website or social media giant Facebook, with the vast majority of them critical of the decision.
At Monday night’s Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, the five-person board allowed the two businesses, which do body art and piercing, to operate despite being within 400 feet of a residential area, which violates a city ordinance.
That ordinance has been on the books since 1998.
They also voted that as part of their special exception, they not be allowed to display signage with “tattoo” on their building or on windows.
According to BZA member Mary Ellen Rudisel-Jordan, the sign decision was the board following precedent.
In 2004, Tony Silveus was the owner of Karma Records, where Take Action Tattoo currently is located on North Detroit Street.
Rudisel-Jordan was not on the board in 2004.
At that time, according to Rudisel-Jordan, Silveus asked for an exception to allow tattooing in the back of his record store.
He told the BZA that he wouldn’t need any signage since he was primarily a record store. So that special exception was approved with the stipulation that no signage be allowed.
That special exception, with the signage restriction, remains in place for that location even when the building was eventually sold.
While that only affects the location where Take Action Tattoo is, Rudisel-Jordan said it would be unfair to have that restriction for one establishment but not another.
Rudisel-Jordan said its not the BZA’s job to interpret ordinances but simply enforce them.
She also said that both Hernandez and Brown are within their rights to appeal.
Hernandez not only plans an appeal, but he has also contacted the Indiana Civil Liberties Union as well as local attorney David Kolbe to pursue litigation.
His first meeting with Kolbe is set for Friday.
“What a wonderful country where we could do that. Think he should if he’s unhappy,” said Rudisel-Jordan. “That’s how laws get changed.”
Hernandez also has no plans of taking any signs down.
He was told by a television station in town to interview him that he had 10 days to take his sign down.
According to Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner, the city is willing to give him about two weeks.
“I’m not taking any sign down,” said Hernandez. “When I was (at the BZA meeting), nobody gave me a time frame to take signs down.”
Skinner said his department gave the board the recommendation to approve both businesses’ special exception but it was the board’s own decision to add the signage restriction.
Hernandez said he felt disrespected as a business owner who is active in the community with cancer foundation fundraising and his annual “Toys for Tats” program around Christmas.
Hernandez said the whole situation started with another tattoo place opening up that didn’t file any paperwork with the city.
That, Hernandez said, caused the city to look at his and Brown’s businesses.
Hernandez pointed out that the residential area in question is separated from his business by a liquor store.
“There are no restrictions on what they put on their signs,” said Hernandez.
“I’ve lived in Warsaw for 44 years. We will continue to do work with cancer patients. We will continue to give gift certificates out for fundraisers. We will continue to do ‘Toys for Tats’,” said Hernandez. “But I was told the word tattoo on a building brings that part of town down. There are words that bring the town down and those are words like meth. Tattoo doesn't bring us down.”
Hernandez said it’s not his personality to be outspoken, but that this goes against his freedom of expression and hurts his ability to do business.
He also said that considering tattoo to be a bad word is a “slap in the face” to police and emergency personnel who are his clients.
At the city level, Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins said that since the BZA is a quasi-judicial board, he said it would be inappropriate for him to lobby them.
The mayor does appoint two of the board members, and a non-voting city council members sits in the audience.
The mayor’s appointees are Rudisel-Jordan and Sean Boylan. Council member Kyle Babcock is the non-voting member but was absent from Monday’s meeting.
In the special exception vote that allowed the two businesses to continue operating, but which contained the signage caveat, the board voted 3-2 in favor with Rudisel-Jordan and Bruce Woodward voting against.
Rudisel-Jordan voted against because the businesses didn’t meet the setback requirement of 400 feet.
Woodward stated he wasn’t against the special exception to allow the businesses to stay at their locations, but rather he was against restricting the businesses’ ability to display signage.
But both the special exception and signage restriction were contained in one vote.
Board members Boylan, Rick Keeven and Tom Allen voted in favor to allow the special exception with the signage restriction to pass.
In terms of changing the ordinance, which requires those businesses to be 400 feet from schools, churches and homes, Wiggins said if people brought that to the city council or Skinner it could be looked at.
Both Wiggins and Rudisel-Jordan said the decision made by the BZA was simply an enforcement of an ordinance and not Warsaw taking a stand against tattoo studios.
Attempts to contact Brown this morning for comment on the situation were unsuccessful.[[In-content Ad]]
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City officials say that it’s following precedent and to make that conclusion is unfair.
What is known is this: Take Action Tattoo, owned by Jonathan Brown, and Hank’s Tattoo, owned by Hernandez, will be allowed to operate in Warsaw despite not being in compliance with an ordinance.
What they won’t be allowed to do is have any signage saying what it is they do inside their businesses.
That decision, however, appears as if it may be appearing before a judge as Hernandez plans litigation.
And the city’s decision has caused hundreds of comments, whether it be through the Times-Union website or social media giant Facebook, with the vast majority of them critical of the decision.
At Monday night’s Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, the five-person board allowed the two businesses, which do body art and piercing, to operate despite being within 400 feet of a residential area, which violates a city ordinance.
That ordinance has been on the books since 1998.
They also voted that as part of their special exception, they not be allowed to display signage with “tattoo” on their building or on windows.
According to BZA member Mary Ellen Rudisel-Jordan, the sign decision was the board following precedent.
In 2004, Tony Silveus was the owner of Karma Records, where Take Action Tattoo currently is located on North Detroit Street.
Rudisel-Jordan was not on the board in 2004.
At that time, according to Rudisel-Jordan, Silveus asked for an exception to allow tattooing in the back of his record store.
He told the BZA that he wouldn’t need any signage since he was primarily a record store. So that special exception was approved with the stipulation that no signage be allowed.
That special exception, with the signage restriction, remains in place for that location even when the building was eventually sold.
While that only affects the location where Take Action Tattoo is, Rudisel-Jordan said it would be unfair to have that restriction for one establishment but not another.
Rudisel-Jordan said its not the BZA’s job to interpret ordinances but simply enforce them.
She also said that both Hernandez and Brown are within their rights to appeal.
Hernandez not only plans an appeal, but he has also contacted the Indiana Civil Liberties Union as well as local attorney David Kolbe to pursue litigation.
His first meeting with Kolbe is set for Friday.
“What a wonderful country where we could do that. Think he should if he’s unhappy,” said Rudisel-Jordan. “That’s how laws get changed.”
Hernandez also has no plans of taking any signs down.
He was told by a television station in town to interview him that he had 10 days to take his sign down.
According to Warsaw City Planner Jeremy Skinner, the city is willing to give him about two weeks.
“I’m not taking any sign down,” said Hernandez. “When I was (at the BZA meeting), nobody gave me a time frame to take signs down.”
Skinner said his department gave the board the recommendation to approve both businesses’ special exception but it was the board’s own decision to add the signage restriction.
Hernandez said he felt disrespected as a business owner who is active in the community with cancer foundation fundraising and his annual “Toys for Tats” program around Christmas.
Hernandez said the whole situation started with another tattoo place opening up that didn’t file any paperwork with the city.
That, Hernandez said, caused the city to look at his and Brown’s businesses.
Hernandez pointed out that the residential area in question is separated from his business by a liquor store.
“There are no restrictions on what they put on their signs,” said Hernandez.
“I’ve lived in Warsaw for 44 years. We will continue to do work with cancer patients. We will continue to give gift certificates out for fundraisers. We will continue to do ‘Toys for Tats’,” said Hernandez. “But I was told the word tattoo on a building brings that part of town down. There are words that bring the town down and those are words like meth. Tattoo doesn't bring us down.”
Hernandez said it’s not his personality to be outspoken, but that this goes against his freedom of expression and hurts his ability to do business.
He also said that considering tattoo to be a bad word is a “slap in the face” to police and emergency personnel who are his clients.
At the city level, Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins said that since the BZA is a quasi-judicial board, he said it would be inappropriate for him to lobby them.
The mayor does appoint two of the board members, and a non-voting city council members sits in the audience.
The mayor’s appointees are Rudisel-Jordan and Sean Boylan. Council member Kyle Babcock is the non-voting member but was absent from Monday’s meeting.
In the special exception vote that allowed the two businesses to continue operating, but which contained the signage caveat, the board voted 3-2 in favor with Rudisel-Jordan and Bruce Woodward voting against.
Rudisel-Jordan voted against because the businesses didn’t meet the setback requirement of 400 feet.
Woodward stated he wasn’t against the special exception to allow the businesses to stay at their locations, but rather he was against restricting the businesses’ ability to display signage.
But both the special exception and signage restriction were contained in one vote.
Board members Boylan, Rick Keeven and Tom Allen voted in favor to allow the special exception with the signage restriction to pass.
In terms of changing the ordinance, which requires those businesses to be 400 feet from schools, churches and homes, Wiggins said if people brought that to the city council or Skinner it could be looked at.
Both Wiggins and Rudisel-Jordan said the decision made by the BZA was simply an enforcement of an ordinance and not Warsaw taking a stand against tattoo studios.
Attempts to contact Brown this morning for comment on the situation were unsuccessful.[[In-content Ad]]
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