West Jordan, UT Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

West Jordan's zoning use table for commercial zones, City Code section 13-5E-3, lists "Tattoo and body engraving service" with a "C" in a single column, SC-3, and leaves every other commercial zone column blank for that use. The legend in the same section defines "permitted" (P) uses as allowed by right and "conditional" (C) uses as requiring Planning Commission approval "pursuant to the standards and procedures for conditional uses set forth in chapter 7, article E of this title and title 15 of this Code." Uses not specifically listed in section 13-5E-3 "shall not be allowed in commercial zones" at all, so an operator cannot fit a tattoo shop under a broader retail or personal-care category to sidestep the conditional-use process. SC-3 is West Jordan's regional shopping center zone, meant for sites near freeways as part of an integrated shopping center development; the C-G general commercial, C-M heavy commercial, and SC-1 and SC-2 neighborhood and community shopping center zones carry no entry for the use, which the table treats as a flat prohibition there.

Beyond zoning, every tattoo studio still needs a standard city business license. Section 4-1B-1 makes it "unlawful to conduct business within the city without a business license," and section 5-4-1 separately confirms that the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, appointed as the city's Board of Health under section 5-1-2, has adopted rules governing "body art facilities" alongside cosmetology and tanning facilities that apply on top of the zoning and licensing requirements. A shop owner in West Jordan clears three separate hurdles: Planning Commission conditional-use approval limited to the SC-3 zone, a general business license from the city's business license authority, and county health department body-art permitting.