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

The rule sits in Sec. 35-311, the Use Matrix. Subsection (a) says no use is permitted, and no development permit can be issued for it, unless the use is listed as permitted or as a specific use permit use and every required approval has been issued. Subsection (b)(1) adds that no building permit is issued for a use the matrix does not list. Tattoo Parlor/Studio and Body Piercing are both listed, each with the Service label, so neither needs a specific use permit anywhere. The matrix has no S in either row.

In Table 311-2 the columns run O-1 & O-1.5, O-2, NC, C-1, C-2, C-3, D, L, I-1, I-2 and ERZD. Reading the cell positions as the file prints them, both rows show a P under C-3 and a P under ERZD. A P means the use is permitted by right, subject to the chapter's other standards. A studio therefore cannot open in an office district, a neighborhood commercial district, C-1 or C-2, the D downtown district, or the L, I-1 and I-2 industrial districts. Section 35-311(d) also ties the alcohol-restricted variants to C-3: the uses allowed in C-3R and C-3NA are the same as in C-3, so those districts take tattoo and piercing studios too.

The definitions in Sec. 35-A101 decide which businesses fall in these rows. A tattoo is a mark or figure made by scarring or inserting pigment under the skin with needles, scalpels or related equipment, and the definition excludes permanent cosmetics. Body piercing is an opening made in the body to insert jewelry or another decoration, and the definition carves out the earlobe. An earlobe-only piercing counter therefore is not the Body Piercing use.

Once the district fits, the parking schedule in Sec. 35-526 applies. Table 526-3b requires 1 space per 300 square feet of gross floor area for each use and caps parking at 1 space per 200 square feet. Areas zoned D are exempt from the off-street parking provisions, and bicycle spaces in D and IDZ districts are set at 25 percent of the minimum vehicle spaces. Sec. 35-311(a) also allows only one primary use per nonresidential lot unless the lot holds multi-use tenants such as strip centers, shopping malls and multi-storied office buildings, which is how most studios share a property.

Sec. 35-311 was last amended by Ord. No. 2026-04-16-0257 on 4-16-26, after Ord. No. 2025-09-04-0580 of 9-4-25.