Acworth, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

1(A)(2) of the Zoning Ordinance lists thirteen uses that cannot operate anywhere inside Acworth's Character Overlay District (COD), the corridor overlay the city created to hold a consistent design standard along an identified street frontage. Tattoo parlors are item (f) on that list, grouped with animal boarding, extended-stay lodging, mobile food vendors that solicit the public, vape shops and smoke stores, minor and major vehicle repair, liquor stores, and gas stations and convenience stores. The ban applies "regardless of whether the underlying zoning district allows the use," so a parcel zoned C-2 or OP that would otherwise permit a tattoo studio still cannot host one if it sits inside the COD boundary.

The COD itself is a design-review layer: most exterior work visible from the street, a facing parking lot, or required open space needs an Overlay Approval Certificate (OAC) reviewed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen after a COD Committee pre-application meeting and a 15-day public notice posting. Outside the COD boundary, Acworth's Zoning Ordinance contains no separate licensing scheme, spacing requirement, or supplemental-use standard aimed at tattoo or body-art establishments; a shop there needs only the standard business/occupational tax certificate and whatever supplemental regulations apply to its own zoning district and use category. 1 is treated as a Zoning Ordinance violation like any other prohibited use, enforced by the Development Director under Section 73-10.