STERLING – When Robert Cooksey, owner of Skin Deep Tattoo and Piercing in Sterling, wanted to open a tattoo parlor in Rock Falls, he came up against a roadblock of sorts.

He wanted to open in Rock Falls because it has no tattoo parlors, "there are more buildings for sale or lease there than in Sterling," and he thought he might get a lower rent, he said.

But he changed his mind when he learned the city has an ordinance that considers tattoo parlors an "adult" industry that may locate only in an M2 zone. In Rock Falls, that's the industrial park.