Gulfport, MS Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 5-342 confines adult entertainment businesses to I-1 and I-2 industrial zoning districts as a matter of right, but only if the location clears a set of 1,000-foot buffers: from a church, synagogue, mosque, temple or funeral home; from a public or private educational facility, from preschool through university; from a liquor store, freestanding lounge, tavern, night club or dance hall; from a public park or recreational area; from the property line of a residentially zoned and used lot; from a hospital's property line; and from another adult entertainment business.

A separate 200-foot buffer applies from any Mississippi Scenic Byway under Miss. , measured from the pavement edge to the nearest parking lot or structure. Section 5-360 requires a city-issued operator's license before anyone may run an adult entertainment business, and a separate employee license before anyone may work or perform on the premises; both are issued by the director of urban development. Section 5-361 sets the operator's license at $200 a year and the employee license at $50 a year, covering enforcement costs. Section 5-362 authorizes the city to inspect the premises at any time it is open, including checking licenses and the identification of anyone who appears under 21, and refusing that inspection is itself a misdemeanor.

Section 5-363 gives the director 30 days to approve or deny a license application, with denial grounds including a disqualifying location, false information on the application, an under-21 applicant, unpaid city fees or taxes, or a disqualifying conviction within the prior two years. Sections 5-343 and 5-344 add exterior-visibility, paint-color and sign-size restrictions on top of the licensing and location rules. The whole framework derives from Ord. No. 2679, adopted June 22, 2010.