Garland, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

52(A)(6) of the Garland Development Code, a tattooing or body piercing establishment may not open within five hundred feet of any residence or residential subdivision, church or place of worship, public or private school, public park, public hospital, child care center, senior living facility, or another tattooing/body piercing establishment. The code sets the measurement method precisely: distance runs along the property lines of the street fronts, from front door to front door, and in a direct line across intersections, so a shop cannot rely on straight-line distance across undeveloped land to squeeze inside the buffer.

Every tattoo or body piercing establishment, and every employee or contractor performing a regulated service inside it, must carry a valid state license at all times whenever state law requires one, tying the local siting rule to whatever license the state issues for that service. The same section carves out an exception for permanent cosmetics: a hair salon, nail salon, waxing or tanning salon, or spa may offer permanent cosmetics as an accessory use without triggering the 500-foot buffer, so long as the technician applying them holds the required state license.

24, which classifies a Development Code violation as a misdemeanor fined under Title 1, Chapter 10, Article 1 of the Garland City Code, with each day of continued violation charged as a separate offense. The Building Official checks compliance as part of issuing a certificate of occupancy for any new personal-service tenant.