Gulfport, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Residential buffer
- 300 feet
- School/church/daycare buffer
- 1,000 feet
- Other adult-use buffer
- 1,500 feet
- Permit term
- 6 months, one 90-day extension
- Existing-business grace period
- 90 days to permit
- General penalty
- up to $500 fine / 60 days
Summary
Gulfport requires a city adult use permit before any adult arcade, bookstore, theater, special cabaret or physical culture establishment can open, and bars these businesses within 300 feet of a home, 1,000 feet of a church, school or child care facility, and 1,500 feet of any other adult use.
No adult use business establishment may be located within three hundred (300) feet of any residential land use property, nor within one thousand (1,000) feet of any church, school, child care facility, or public recreation area which has been established or which has received legal authority to be established, whether the same is located within the City of Gulfport or not. ... No adult use business establishment may be located within one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet of any other adult use, or any property for which an adult use permit has been issued hereunder ...
Full Breakdown
Article XIX of the zoning code, enacted under Chapter 166, Florida Statutes and the Municipal Home Rule Powers Act, governs every adult use in the city: adult arcades, adult bookstores, adult theaters, special cabarets, physical culture establishments and adult photographic/modeling studios. 05 sets the spacing standard: no adult use may sit within 300 feet of residential land, within 1,000 feet of a church, school, child care facility or public recreation area, or within 1,500 feet of any other adult use, whether that other property is inside Gulfport city limits or not.
Distances are measured in a straight line from the nearest property line, or from the closest tenant space in a multi-tenant building. 06 requires an adult use permit before any such business commences or continues operating; businesses already open when the article took effect had 90 days to obtain one or shut down. An applicant must submit name and contact information, the site address and legal description, a list of every church, school, child care facility or public recreation area within 1,000 feet and every other adult use within 1,500 feet, the date operations began (for existing uses), and notarized owner authorization if the applicant does not hold record title.
The city council sets a permit fee calculated to cover administration. A permit expires six months after issuance unless the holder has obtained an occupational license and begun operating, or applied for the necessary building permits; the city may grant one 90-day extension for good cause.
Violations & Fines
Operating any adult use business without a valid permit, or beyond the 90-day grace window given to businesses already established when Article XIX took effect, violates Section 22-19.06 and is enforceable under the Code's general penalty at Section 1-6: a fine up to $500, up to 60 days in jail, or both, with each day of continued violation charged as a separate offense. Locating an adult use inside the 300-, 1,000- or 1,500-foot buffers of Section 22-19.05 is likewise a code violation subject to that same penalty and to code enforcement action.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an adult use open anywhere in Gulfport with a business tax receipt alone?
How is the 1,500-foot adult-use spacing distance measured?
Does the 1,000-foot buffer only count schools and churches inside Gulfport?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Gulfport
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Adult Entertainment in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Pinellas County handle adult entertainment.