The team behind a tattoo parlor and body piercing shop proposed for Field’s Corner pitched abutters at a City-hosted meeting Tuesday evening. The dozen gathered around a table at the All Dorchester Sports League building on Dorchester Avenue reckoned with zoning concerns, and a general unease surrounding body art shops.

Around six tattoo shops operate in Boston ‑ in Allston, the North End, Roslindale, and Jamaica Plain. Lisa Smith Cameron, who has owned and operated the Glover’s Corner salon Lisa’s All Natural Hair Beauty for the past 16 years, wants to open Vision Ink at 1558 Dorchester Ave.
Smith Cameron said she plans to run a “a really upscale environment tattoo parlor,” which would be reflected in hiring experienced employees. Her message to any potential workers: “If you’re not on board with what we’re trying to do with the community, then you can leave.”

Few renovations were needed to the floor plan of the former Boston Eyewear shop, which would house two tattoo artists and a piercer, Smith-Cameron said. She has been leasing it since October, making her way through the approval process.

David Cotter with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services headed the meeting, joined by a representative from City Councillor Frank Baker’s office. A hearing before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals has not yet been set, Cotter explained. He has to recommend the project for a date, at which point it can go before the ZBA. The process from there grows convoluted, requiring permitting and licensing from different city and state entities.

Abutters raised safety and legitimacy as chief concerns at the meeting. Asked whether young people would try to loiter in the shop, Smith Cameron said “I have no tolerance for that. It’s not a hangout.”

Referencing a nearby store that sold drug paraphernalia, abutters queried Smith Cameron on what other items would be sold in the parlor. Nothing, she said. Any jewelry or art — ethnic art is planned to be displayed, along with booklets of Traci Lynn Jewelry — would need to be ordered online.

“People affiliate tattoos with streets or drugs or violence,” said Mikey Myles, a shop partner and the contractor. “But it’s really a body art.” Myles spoke on the shop’s possible apprenticeship program and advantages it offers to young artists.

Additionally, Smith Cameron’s husband is a Boston Police officer at the Area D-4 station. She assured those gathered that they would both monitor the store, though she would continue to primarily run her hair salon. Video cameras would also monitor the shop, with a buzzer system to let customers in, and only the person being tattooed would be permitted in the stations at the back of the shop.

This harkens back to an earlier discussion around a possible Codman Square tattoo shop, said the sports league director Candice Gartley. The Codman Square Civic Association presented the earlier business with a list of questions, which were answered thoughtfully and returned. The civic group eventually signed off on the project, though it did not ultimately come to fruition.

Smith Cameron said she would keep the shop hours at a reasonable noon to 9 p.m., possibly opening at 11 a.m. Those at the meeting pointed out that, while she can promise such limits, the variances and permits may offer her additional leeway and make community pledges unenforceable.

Tom Gannon, co-founder and former president of the civic group, offered words of caution regarding the requested variance. Once the plot is zoned for body art, he said, it is likely to remain so. If Vision Ink were to close, another buyer who had not made Smith Cameron’s promises to the community could take advantage of the variance.

“Businesses don’t survive, but variances do,” he said.
The abutters, who were measured in offering any support for the proposal, were operating out of an abundance of caution when navigating possible ramifications for allowing a body art variance on the site, said Ed Crowley, a member of the Fields Corner Civic Association. Other shops had pledged on good faith to restrict themselves to certain activities or sales, only to fully exploit a license when granted one.

“We’ve been burned, and then we’ve been able to get businesses that really came in and flourished in the neighborhood,” he said.