Greenwood, IN Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Licensing agency
- Greenwood Chief of Police
- License fee
- $500, up to $400 refundable if denied
- Spacing requirement
- 1,000 feet from schools, churches, parks, homes
- Decision deadline
- 30 days or deemed denied
- Appeal window
- 14 days to Board of Public Works and Safety
Summary
In the City of Greenwood, Indiana, an adult entertainment business needs a separate $500 license from the Chief of Police under Sec. 4-159.2, and Sec. 4-159.6 bars locating such a business within 1,000 feet of another adult entertainment lot, a church, school, day care, public park, or residential lot.
Sec. 4-159.2 License Required. ... It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in, conduct, or carry on, or to permit to be engaged in, conducted, or carried on, in or upon any premises in the City of Greenwood, the operation of an adult entertainment business as herein defined, without first having obtained a separate license for such adult entertainment business from the Greenwood Chief of Police. Every applicant for a license to maintain, operate, or conduct an adult entertainment business shall file an application in duplicate under oath with the Greenwood Chief of Police upon a form provided by the City and pay a filing fee of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) to the Greenwood Controller, who shall issue a receipt which shall be attached to the application filed with the Greenwood Chief of Police. ... ... Sec. 4-159.6 Limitation on Location. No adult entertainment business lot shall be located closer than one thousand feet (1,000') of another such adult entertainment business lot, or closer than one thousand feet (1,000') to any existing church lot, school lot, day care facility lot, public park, or residential lot within the City of Greenwood, Indiana.
Full Breakdown
Division XIV of the Greenwood General Ordinances, Ch. 4, defines adult entertainment businesses broadly under Sec. 4-159.1 to include adult bookstores, cabarets, drive-in theaters, motion picture arcades, and live entertainment arcades characterized by an emphasis on specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas. Sec. 4-159.2 makes it unlawful to operate any such business without first obtaining a separate license from the Greenwood Chief of Police, requiring a $500 filing fee to the Controller, of which up to $400 can be refunded if the license is denied after background investigation costs are deducted.
Sec. 4-159.3 requires applicants to submit proof of age, photographs, fingerprints, employment history, liquor license copies, and criminal history, plus birth certificates for entertainers within five days of starting work. Sec. 4-159.6 imposes a 1,000-foot buffer between any adult entertainment business lot and another such lot, or any church, school, day care facility, public park, or residential lot in the City. Sec. 4-159.7 requires viewing booths to be transparent or have glass/plastic doors allowing continuous monitoring, and bars patrons from touching entertainers' specified anatomical areas.
The Chief of Police must issue or deny the license within thirty days (Sec. 4-159.10), and may revoke or suspend it after a ten-day notice for ordinance violations or disqualifying convictions under IC 35-42-4-1 (Sec. 4-159.8). Denials or revocations may be appealed to the Board of Public Works and Safety within fourteen days (Sec. 4-159.9), and existing businesses had ninety days from the ordinance's passage to comply (Sec. 4-159.11).
Violations & Fines
Operating without the Sec. 4-159.2 license, locating within the Sec. 4-159.6 1,000-foot buffer, or violating the advertising, booth, or touching restrictions can result in license revocation or suspension after a Chief of Police hearing under Sec. 4-159.8, with ten days' written notice, plus prosecution or injunctive relief under Sec. 4-159.12's general penalty provisions and referral to the Corporation Counsel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far must an adult entertainment business be from a school in Greenwood?
How much does a Greenwood adult entertainment license cost?
Can a disqualifying criminal record block an adult entertainment license?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Greenwood
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