Pasco, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Section 25.165.180 PMC, part of the general provisions chapter governing specific business types, bars tattoo parlors as defined in PMC 25.15.220 from six categories of zones by name: the C-2 central business district, the C-1 retail business district, the BP business park district, the O office district, the C-R regional commercial district, and any residential zone. That leaves a tattoo parlor legally sited only in Pasco's remaining commercial and industrial districts, such as the C-3 general business district and industrial zones, that are not on the excluded list, similar to the structure the code uses for pawnshops and secondhand dealers under 25.165.150, which are likewise excluded from C-2, C-1, BP, O, and C-R zones and confined to C-3 and I-1.

The tattoo parlor restriction traces to Ordinance 3354 in 1999 (originally Code 1970 § 25.70.140) and was carried forward most recently by Ordinance 4700A in 2023. Unlike the pawnshop and consignment store rules, 25.165.180 does not add a minimum distance-from-competitor spacing requirement or an enclosed-structure mandate; it is purely a district exclusion. A business owner must confirm the parcel's zoning designation before applying for a business license, because the City Planner-level home occupation and administrative permit processes available to other business types do not create an exception to this district-based prohibition.