No ink shop in Saugus center

SAUGUS – Selectmen agreed to keep tattoo parlors out of the more residential part of town as they rejected another hopeful business owner from a Central Street location.Permit applicant Ronald Mercurio was the second to come before the board in the last two years to open a tattoo shop in the area. In 2011, a board of different selectmen unanimously rejected two Saugus brothers from setting up a shop that would sell art as well as ink its customers, with a proposed location at 314 Central Street on the grounds that it would be a departure from Saugus? family-oriented environment.Mercurio?s plan to share a space with a barber at the site and take customers by appointment only made no difference to the board on Tuesday.Selectman Debra Panetta was the first to remind the board of its 2011 decision, which she had weighed in on as a member. “Pretty much last time we said we wanted to keep them in the Route 1 area,” said Panetta.Chairman Michael Serino said he had received a call from a resident opposing Mercurio?s choice of location, and Selectman Stephen Horlick added that he had received an additional three.Serino agreed that the board had set a precedent with its decision in 2011 to keep tattoo shops to the “adult entertainment district” on Route 1, and with Horlick?s motion of support, the board unanimously voted to reject the permitSelectman Steve Castinetti, who admitted in 2011 that he had his own body inked, said while he was an advocate of small businesses in town, he couldn?t the support a tattoo shop in central Saugus. “You have to be sensitive to where you?re going,” he said. “We?re trying to keep tattoo shops out of the residential neighborhood.”Kait Taylor may be reached at [email protected].