Novato, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Section 19.34.168 of the Novato Municipal Code governs where a tattoo parlor business can locate in the City of Novato, Marin County, California. The opening sentence makes two gates. First, the business may be located only in a zoning district where Article 2 (Zoning Districts, Allowable Land Uses, and Zone-Specific Standards) allows it. Second, the site must also comply with the separation requirements of the section itself.

The separation rule has two distances. A tattoo parlor business shall not be located within 1,000 feet from any school, public park or other land use accommodating or oriented to minors, as determined by the Zoning Administrator. The code gives examples of minor-oriented uses the Zoning Administrator can count: video game arcades, skating rinks, pizza parlors and teen centers. The second distance is 500 feet from any residential zoning district or conforming residential use, and the code spells out that a conforming residential use includes a mixed use project, so apartments above a storefront count.

The Zoning Ordinance defines a tattoo parlor broadly, as any business establishment specializing in the application of tattoos, body piercing, or any other form of skin art applied to human beings, including the sale of accessories and products associated with those activities. A piercing studio therefore falls under the same location rules as a tattoo shop.

A zoning approval is also the gate to everything else. Section 19.59.020 provides that permits for uses that would conflict with the Zoning Ordinance shall not be issued, and any permit issued in conflict with it is deemed void. The Community Development Department administers the zoning review, and the Zoning Administrator makes the call on which nearby uses count as oriented to minors. This page covers the Novato zoning location standard only; it does not describe any health or licensing requirement outside Chapter XIX.