Columbus, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Location buffer
- 600 ft from churches, schools, day cares, playgrounds
- Permit fee
- $6.00 nonrefundable, annual
- Permit decision window
- 30 days or deemed approved
- Felony disqualification
- 5 years before application
- Misdemeanor disqualification
- 2 years, moral turpitude only
- Appeal venue
- Superior Court of Muscogee County, 30 days
- General penalty
- Up to $1,000 fine or 90 days
Summary
Columbus, Georgia bars any adult entertainment establishment within 600 feet of a church, school, day care center, library, playground, community teen center, residential zone, or A-O zone condominiums and townhouses. Every establishment and its employees must carry an annual permit from the chief of police, and a recent felony or moral-turpitude misdemeanor conviction disqualifies an owner, manager, or employee outright.
No adult entertainment establishment shall be located within 600 feet of the property line of any church, school, community teen center, library, nursery school, day care center, playground, residential zone, or condominiums and multiple-family dwellings and townhouses located in A-O zones.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 75).
Full Breakdown
An adult entertainment establishment is defined by Sec. 14-223 as a business where customers gather mainly to view or associate with employees who display specified anatomical areas, including genitals, buttocks, female breasts below the nipple, or those areas covered only by transparent clothing. Sec. 00 fee per permit; the identification permit expires each year on the employee's birth date and must be carried at all times while working. The chief of police must issue or deny a permit within 30 days of a completed application, and an application not decided within that window is automatically deemed approved.
A denied applicant may appeal to the Superior Court of Muscogee County within 30 days. Sec. 14-227 bars anyone from owning, managing, operating, or working at such an establishment if convicted of, or pleading guilty or nolo contendere to, a federal or state felony within the preceding five years, or a moral-turpitude misdemeanor within the preceding two years. Sec. 14-228 forbids private one-on-one modeling sessions or close physical mingling between employees and customers, requiring an open-seating show area instead. Sec. § 39-1-1, during regular business hours.
Sec. 14-222 makes clear the article binds establishments already operating when it took effect as well as those opening later, and Sec. 14-224 requires any business engaging in these activities to identify itself when applying for any city license, permit, or certificate.
Violations & Fines
The chief of police may recommend revoking an establishment's license to the Columbus Council if the owner is convicted of, or pleads guilty or nolo contendere to, a felony, a moral-turpitude misdemeanor, or any provision of this article, or if a manager or employee is convicted twice on separate occasions (Sec. 14-230). Revocation follows the hearing procedure in Sec. 3-11(b), with at least two weeks' written notice to the license holder before the council hears the recommendation (Sec. 14-231). Violations without a specific penalty default to the Code's general penalty, Sec. 1-8: a fine up to $1,000.00, imprisonment up to 90 days, or both.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close can an adult entertainment establishment be to a school or church in Columbus, Georgia?
Who issues the required permit and what does it cost?
Can a past conviction keep someone from working at one of these businesses?
What happens if the city denies or revokes the permit?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Columbus
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