LAPLACE — Permission was denied to the owner of a tattoo parlor who is seeking to relocate his business to the Cambridge Corner shopping center on Airline Highway and Cambridge Drive in LaPlace.

Ted Legendre was appealing to the Parish Council this month after he was told the parlor was rated as adult entertainment and could not open in the center, which includes a cosmetics store and grocery store.

The parlor would also be close to churches and schools, and parish zoning laws prohibit such a business in proximity to those type of buildings, councilman Larry Snyder said.

“This is what we have to do for the churches and schools. I did a lot of homework, ” Snyder said, adding tattoo shops fall in line with adult entertainment and massage parlors.

“I talked to the Planning and Zoning Commission and I don’t’ see what we can do,” he said.

When Legendre said his shop does not meet the burden for obscenity standards, Snyder said, “These are our laws. If you had gone to the P&Z first, you would have seen that. There is a little daycare within 1,000 feet.”

Snyder noted there are several family businesses in that corner, and he was also concerned about that.

“This could have been avoided,” he said.

— By Richard Meek