Plans for Sycamore tattoo parlor on West State Street stamped out by city council

SYCAMORE – The Sycamore City Council unanimously voted against an ordinance on Tuesday that would have allowed a tattoo parlor to open on the first floor of a building in the city’s conservation district.

The failure to amend Sycamore’s city code meant that a permit request for the business was also denied. Both measures would have had to pass for a tattoo shop to be established on the first floor of 331 West State St.

The council’s decision was in line with deliberations of the city’s planning and zoning commission, who voted to recommend against the ordinances more than a week earlier.

First Ward Alderman, Josh Huseman, who said he’d tried to find a time when the city council went against the recommendation of the planning and zoning commission but couldn’t, asked Sycamore Attorney Keith Foster if he remembered such an instance.

Second Ward Alderman, Chuck Stowe who’s served on the council since the 1980′s, said he couldn’t remember a specific instance but said he believed it has happened during his tenure.

“There was a time or two it was overruled,” Stowe said.

John Sauter, director of community development for the city of Sycamore, said he believed it recently happened on a vote regarding a group home in the community.

Stowe motioned to approve the ordinance and then voted against it, along with every other member of the council.