Arapahoe County, CO Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

B set out a zoning-and-buffer scheme rather than an outright ban. A sexually-oriented business may not operate outside the B-4, B-5, I-1 and I-2 zoning districts, and it cannot operate on PUD-zoned property at all unless the use was specifically listed in that PUD's approval before this section was enacted, closing off a potential workaround through planned-unit-development zoning. Layered on top of the zone restriction is a set of 1,000-foot buffers: no such business may operate within 1,000 feet of any church, any school meeting the state's compulsory-education requirements, the boundary of any residential zoning district, a single or multiple dwelling unit, a public park adjacent to a residential zone, or a licensed child-care center, and separately may not operate within 1,000 feet of another sexually-oriented business.

The Code specifies exactly how those distances are measured: business-to-business distance is a straight line between the closest exterior structural walls, while distances to a church, school, child-care center, dwelling or residential zone boundary run in a straight line from the nearest property line of the sexually-oriented business to the nearest property line (or zone boundary) of the protected use, ignoring intervening buildings or streets. Only one sexually-oriented business may operate within the same building or structure. A business lawfully operating before April 2, 2001 that fails to conform gets six months to cease, though the Board of Adjustment can grant an extension, using the same procedure as a variance, if the owner shows by a preponderance of the evidence it has not yet recovered its initial investment; where two compliant-location businesses later end up within 1,000 feet of each other, the earlier-established one is deemed compliant and the later one in violation.