By CHRISTINE STEPHENSON
cstephenson@dcherald.com

JASPER — The Jasper Plan Commission approved recommendations to change the Unified Development Ordinance at a meeting Wednesday evening. Recommendations included adding body art salons to permitted businesses and including language about transitional housing throughout the ordinance.

The language adding body art salons to the ordinance was overdue, Commission President Paul Lorey said. This language applies to parlors that do both tattooing and body piercing.

“We actually did not have anywhere in the UDO for a tattoo parlor,” he said. “There was no permitted area for them to be in business in the city, and we had a couple of them already in operation, so that was the reason that brought that one around.”

Adding the term “transitional housing” throughout special exception sections in the ordinance will allow for places that bridge the gap between homelessness or unsafe living environments to safe, permanent housing to operate. These places often include support for addiction, mental health issues and sometimes offer education and training, according to the ordinance.

“Transitional housing is going to reflect some of the new social services,” Lorey said. “So that helps to take care of some of the recidivism housing — the LifeSpring house, the Heidorn property and a few others like that.”

These proposed changes will be brought to the Jasper Common Council to approve. The council will likely discuss the changes at its next meeting on Jan. 20. The current Unified Development Ordinance can be found on the city’s website.

The commission also:

• Approved a proposed plat of the Alumni Addition, a subdivision to the city, for right-of-way width dedications and dead-end street and for easements adjacent to street right-of-way.