Kill Devil Hills, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Kill Devil Hills confines tattoo studios to one zoning district and treats them as discretionary uses even there. 227(E) defines a tattoo studio as 'an establishment at which the activity of tattooing occurs,' with tattooing defined as 'the inserting of permanent markings or coloration, or the production of scars, upon or under human skin through puncturing by use of a needle or other method,' and states a tattoo studio 'shall be a special use of the Light Industrial One Zone,' meaning it cannot locate in any other zoning district, including the Commercial zone.

Separation requirements, measured in a straight line from the property line, require at least 200 feet from a church, school, public park, or library, and at least 400 feet from any other tattoo establishment. m. Approval from the Health Department or any other applicable agency is required before operation. As with other special uses in this chapter, the Planning Board reviews the application and makes a recommendation, and the Board of Commissioners holds final authority to approve the special use and to impose any additional conditions it determines appropriate based on the surroundings.

227(C), which instead requires only that the establishment be 'properly licensed in accordance with the regulations outlined within Ch. 114,' showing the town regulates tattoo studios more restrictively, through zoning confinement and buffer distances, than it regulates body piercing.