Dearborn County, IN Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 111 of the Dearborn County Code, adopted by the Board of Commissioners as BC Ord. 1996-8, requires a permit under § 111.15(A) for every sexually oriented business. Section 111.02 defines the category to include adult arcades, adult bookstores and novelty or video stores, adult cabarets, adult motels, adult motion picture and live theaters, massage parlors, sexual encounter establishments, escort agencies and nude model studios.

The County Administrator or a designee grants, denies, renews, suspends and revokes permits and checks locational compliance. The Sheriff's Department reports on specified criminal convictions, and the Planning and Zoning Enforcement Office inspects. The application is sworn, filed with an original and two copies, and carries a non-refundable $100 application fee under § 111.15(J). Applicants must submit a survey prepared within 30 days before filing by an Indiana registered land surveyor showing established regulated uses, religious institutions, schools, public parks or recreation areas and residential property within 1,000 feet of the site. The spacing standard itself sits in the County Zoning Ordinance, which this chapter references but does not reproduce, and § 111.15(K) requires a certification of locational compliance before any permit issues.

The Administrator must grant or deny within 30 days of proper filing. Denial is mandatory for grounds listed in § 111.17(C), including an applicant under 18, unpaid fees, a failed health, fire or building inspection, and specified criminal convictions inside two or five year look-back periods. A permit is valid for one year under § 111.20 and renewal is due at least 30 days before expiration. A transfer needs an amendment and a fee of 20% of the annual permit fee under § 111.24.

Operating rules include no admittance of anyone under 18 without a parent or guardian under § 111.36, and no business, performance or sales between 1:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. under § 111.38. Employees who work as live performers, escorts or in similar roles need a separate employee license under § 111.25.