Dunwoody, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 10, Article VIII of the Dunwoody Code of Ordinances regulates sexually oriented businesses, defined at § 10-230 to include adult bookstores and video stores, adult cabarets, adult motion picture theaters, semi-nude model studios and sexual device shops. Section 10-232 makes it unlawful to operate such a business, or to work as an employee at one, without a city-issued license; applicants file in person with the city manager's office, submit to a fingerprint-based background check under § 2-62, and disclose any prior conviction for a 'specified criminal activity' such as prostitution or obscenity offenses.

The city manager must issue or deny a license within 20 days under § 10-233. Section 10-234 sets the fee schedule: $100 for an initial business license and $50 for annual renewal, and $50 for an initial employee license with $25 for renewal. The core siting standard, § 10-249, requires every sexually oriented business to sit at least 500 feet from any parcel zoned for the long list of residential districts named in the section, including R-150, R-100, RM-150 and RM-HD, at least 600 feet from any business licensed by the state to sell alcohol, and at least 1,000 feet from a house of worship or public or private school, measured in a straight line between the closest boundary or structure points.

m. A nonconforming sexually oriented business predating the ordinance gets one year to recoup its investment before losing legal nonconforming status, though it may apply for a hardship extension under § 10-249(d)-(e) if it can show it cannot recover its investment in time.