Tattoo shops are again legal in Langley Township after years of a community-wide ban.
Council voted 8-1 at the Monday, Sept. 25 meeting to regulate and allow tattoo shops and microblading.
Commercial tattooing has been banned within the Township for decades, which left all the legal local shops in Langley City or Surrey.
“I’m really excited about this,” said Councillor Barb Martens, just before the vote.
She said the proposal to change the old law was inspired by a would-be business owner who wanted to start legally doing microblading – semi-permanent brow tattooing – but couldn’t because of the old bylaws.
The business owner was planning to do a significant part of her work for people with cancer, who have lost their eyebrows and hair to chemotherapy, Martens said.
There was very little opposition to the change when it was first raised this summer.
Coun. Tim Baillie called the ban “pre-Victorian” during debate in June.
Langley City does permit tattoo shops, but has a restriction that forbids one from opening within 400 metres of another shop.
Coun. Kim Richter was opposed to the bylaw.
PREVIOUSLY: Decades-old ban on tattoo shops lifted in Langley Township