Florence County, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Florence County treats tattoo facilities as a conditionally permitted use, not a by-right one. Sec. 30-113 says a tattoo facility 'where conditionally permitted by Table II, must comply with South Carolina Code of Laws 1976, as amended, and shall be tempered by the supplemental siting criteria of this section.' That means the county first checks Table II of the zoning ordinance to see whether tattoo facilities are conditionally allowed in the district where an operator wants to locate, then layers the county's own siting rules on top.

Two additional requirements follow. First, the location itself must satisfy S.C. Code 1976, Sec. 44-34-110, the state statute governing where a tattoo facility can sit. Second, zoning compliance for the use is governed by Sec. 30-267 of the county's zoning chapter, the same certificate-of-zoning-compliance process used for other conditional and commercial uses countywide. Beyond the zoning sign-off, the county requires a South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control permit before the facility can open its doors; the SCDHEC permit and the county's zoning compliance are separate, both-required steps, not alternatives.

Definitions of what counts as a tattoo facility, artist or body-art procedure are pulled directly from state law rather than defined locally, per Sec. 30-113(a). Operators inside Florence, Lake City, Timmonsville and the county's other incorporated towns fall under those municipalities' own codes, not this county chapter, since this provision governs only the unincorporated area.