Fontana, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Fontana Municipal Code Sec. 15-902 sets the city's adult-business buffer standards. No adult oriented business may locate within 1,000 feet of any existing residential district, park, religious institution, child care facility, or school, measured in a straight line from the business's primary entrance to the nearest property line of the protected use, without regard to city boundaries or intervening structures. A second buffer bars any adult oriented business from locating within 600 feet of another existing adult oriented business, whether inside Fontana or in an adjoining city or unincorporated area; if two applications would sit closer than 600 feet apart, the first application accepted controls and the later one is treated as nonconforming.

No more than one adult oriented business may occupy the same building or the same commercial or industrial center unless separated by more than 600 feet, no sex supermarket or sex mini-mall is permitted anywhere in the city, and a sexual encounter establishment cannot locate in any zoning district or planning area in Fontana at all. Beyond the spacing rules, Sec. 15-907 requires a separate adult oriented business permit for every location, on top of any ordinary business license, and a separate adult entertainer permit for anyone who performs at the business.

Sec. 15-908 requires the operator's application to include fingerprints, a ten-year employment history, and disclosure of any sex-crime convictions within the past three years for every officer, employee, or independent contractor. A use that predates the 2003 ordinance but does not conform to these buffers may continue as a legal nonconforming use for only one year unless the community development director grants an extension under Sec. 15-906, and any abandonment permanently forfeits that nonconforming status (Sec. 15-905).