Bellevue, NE Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

An applicant for a sexually oriented business license must apply to the Bellevue planning director on a required form, disclosing ownership structure, prior licenses or revocations in any jurisdiction, the classification sought, the proposed location's legal description, and a scaled sketch of the premises showing total floor space, per § 2.5-4. The planning director and police department inspect the premises for compliance before a license issues. Location is fixed by § 2.5-13: the business may operate only in a BG general business zoning district, and not within 1,000 feet of a church, a public or private educational facility (including day cares, preschools and colleges), a residentially used property line, a park, a hospital, a community recreation center, a public library, a youth-service facility, or another sexually oriented business.

Distances to these uses are measured in a straight line between nearest property lines, ignoring intervening structures or political-subdivision boundaries; distance between two sexually oriented businesses is measured wall-to-wall. A business lawfully operating before the chapter's enactment that fails these standards becomes a nonconforming use, allowed to continue for only one year unless discontinued 30 or more days sooner, per § 2.5-14. The annual license fee is set in the city's Master Fee Schedule, and every initial applicant also pays a nonrefundable $250 investigation fee under § 2.5-7 to cover the city's background check and site inspection. Licensees must also submit to ongoing inspection by police, fire, and the building inspector at any time the business is open, per § 2.5-8.