01
Which category you are: Zoning Code Table 2-5 (Chapter 20.20) permits Personal Services, General (barber and beauty shops) and Nail Salons by right in the CC, CG, CN and CV districts but not in CM. Personal Services, Restricted, which the code defines to include day spas, tanning salons, healing arts such as acupuncture and aromatherapy, and body piercing, needs a minor use permit, decided by the Zoning Administrator after a public hearing (Section 20.52.020). A salon counts as a Nail Salon once 25% or more of its work stations do manicures or pedicures.
02
Nail salon parking is the number to check: Table 3-10 (Section 20.40.040) parks nail salons at 1 space per 80 sq ft, against 1 per 250 for general personal services and retail and 1 per 200 for massage. A 1,200 sq ft nail salon needs 15 spaces where a hair salon of the same size needs 5. In a center of 100,000 sq ft or less with restaurants at no more than 15% of the floor area, Section 20.40.050 lets the whole center use 1 per 200 sq ft, so a smaller Irvine Company neighborhood center can make the math work where a stand-alone building cannot.
03
Massage spacing: a massage establishment needs a minor use permit in the CC, CG, CN and CV districts, and Section 20.48.120 bars one within 500 feet of a school, park, playground, civic center, cultural site or religious institution, or within 500 feet of another massage establishment, unless a waiver is granted after a public hearing. Municipal Code Chapter 5.50 adds separate City massage rules. Massage as an accessory service inside a health club, hotel, medical or chiropractic office is also a minor use permit and is limited to 25% of the related floor area (Chapter 20.70).
04
Tattoo and permanent makeup: tattoo establishments are permitted only in the CG district in the current table, must be 1,000 feet from another tattoo shop and 500 feet from schools, parks and any residential use, and are limited to appointment-only hours of 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (Section 20.48.230). Chapter 20.70 excludes permanent makeup performed as an incidental service in a beauty shop, day spa or dermatology office, so a brow or lip studio should confirm in writing that it stays in the salon category.
05
State licenses and build-out: the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology licenses each establishment only for its exact address and suite, requires a new license on a change of owner, location or partnership, and requires toilets, hot and cold running water, handwashing and accessible potable water before opening; local building officials may require a drinking fountain on a remodel. CAMTC certification for massage therapists is voluntary, and Business and Professions Code Section 4612 bars cities from enforcing rules that conflict with the state Massage Therapy Act.
06
Center and coastal overlays: Fashion Island, Newport North and the other Bison Avenue centers are Irvine Company properties, and the City keeps separate Planned Community texts that can replace Table 2-5. Lido and the Peninsula may also fall in the coastal zone under the City's Local Coastal Program. Confirm the governing text for the parcel, and the landlord's exclusives, before signing.