Benton County, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

010), and it covers adult arcades, adult bookstores and video stores, adult mini and motion picture theaters, adult panoram establishments, and live adult entertainment establishments. 030(a) limits these businesses to the General Commercial (GC) District. 040 layers on distance rules: no Adult Use Business may locate within 1,000 feet of the Community Center Residential, Urban Growth Area Residential, Planned Development, or Rural Lands One Acre districts, within 1,000 feet of any area defined as a Sensitive Land Use, or within 500 feet of another Adult Use Business; distances run in a straight line from the nearest property-parcel point regardless of intervening buildings.

070 requires a permit from the Planning and Building Director before operation: the applicant submits a scaled site plan (1 inch = 100 feet or larger) showing boundaries, streets, structures, parking, drainage and signage, plus a non-refundable application fee set by the Board of County Commissioners; an incomplete application must be corrected within 30 days or it lapses. 050 gives nonconforming adult use businesses that predate the chapter three years, or the remaining leasehold term if shorter, to come into compliance, and bars any expansion or intensification in the meantime; owners must file leasehold or ownership records with the Planning and Building Director within six months.

060 caps exterior advertising at one two-square-foot, non-illuminated double-faced sign. 170 add operating rules covering lighting, manager and entertainer licensing, and standards of conduct, including a ban on alcohol sales or consumption on the premises and on admitting an obviously intoxicated patron. This is a county ordinance, so it governs only unincorporated Benton County; Kennewick, Richland, West Richland and Prosser regulate adult businesses under their own municipal codes.