Greenville, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Zoning Section 9-4-22 defines 'adult use' as any principal or accessory use which excludes minors by reason of age, explicitly not counting exclusions required by alcoholic beverage control law or the motion picture industry's own voluntary ratings restrictions. Section 9-4-85(A) lists adult uses among the uses that require a special use permit, meaning they cannot open by right in any zoning district; the Board of Adjustment issues that permit under § 9-4-84, applying the specific criteria in § 9-4-86 together with the general special-use criteria in § 9-4-81.

Section 9-4-86(A) then sets three physical and locational conditions specific to adult uses. First, every window, door, opening and entry must be located, covered or screened so no one outside, on any public or semipublic area, street or way, can see into the interior. Second, an adult use cannot be established within 500 feet of any residentially zoned land or permitted residential use, nor within 500 feet of a church, school, park, playground, synagogue, convent, library, or other place where large numbers of minors regularly travel or gather.

Third, no lot with an adult use can sit within a 500-foot radius of another lot that also has an adult use, preventing clustering even where the surrounding uses would otherwise allow it. Together the special use permit requirement and the three spacing and screening conditions mean an adult use applicant must first identify a site far enough from housing, schools, parks and other adult uses, then bring that site to the Board of Adjustment for discretionary approval rather than an over-the-counter zoning permit.