Armed with approvals from the town’s Board of Adjustment, Jimmy Bissette has scheduled a grand opening March 1 for Romantic Torture, a tattoo parlor on Main Street in Fuquay-Varina near the Ennis Street intersection.

When Bissette first looked into opening a local establishment offering tattoos, he learned that such a business is prohibited in Fuquay-Varina if the site is within 1,000 feet of a church. The building he has rented is just over 900 feet from the Fuquay-Varina Presbyterian Church.

So he went to the town’s Board of Adjustments which has authority to grant a variance from zoning law requirements. Adjustment Board members granted his request for a variance and subsequently granted a special exception for the tattoo parlor to be located in the zone where the building stands.

Several citizens spoke in opposition to Bissette’s requests.

Rick Mullen, who owns Ashley’s Art gallery across the street and who thinks a tattoo parlor would have a negative effect on his business, Barbara Kinton Marchioni, whose family owns several properties around the small brick building where the tattoo parlor will be, and Carolyn Bass who spoke on behalf of the Presbyterian Church.

The only recourse opponents would have if they chose to carry their objections further would be an appeal to Wake Superior Court.

The only requirement Bissette had to meet before opening was replacement of a railing at the front steps of the building. At the end of last week, he said he planned to get his business license Monday.

A Fuquay-Varina High graduate, Bissette has worked with a business in Raleigh, Crowz Eye, where tattoos are done for about 15 years. He has been doing tattoos himself for six years. He also does freelance work in murals and signs. In an interview he said he has done quite a few business signs and murals in Fuquay-Varina. He gave as examples the signs for My Back Porch, and Flowers on Broad Street.

Bissette said he understands the churches and others’ disapprovals. He said for a long time there was a stigma attached to tattoo parlors; they were perceived as negative.

He said he assured the Board of Adjustment he plans no gaudy signs and “there will be no drunken sailors.”

He plans to continue his work in murals and business signs.