Hialeah, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Hialeah regulates sexually oriented businesses through Subdivision II of the zoning code's adult-use article, Sec. 98-1766 through 98-1770. The definitions section, 98-1766, covers adult bookstores, adult video stores, adult motion picture theaters of 50 or more seats, adult mini-motion picture theaters of under 50 seats, plus body-painting studios, encounter parlors, erotic dance studios and relaxation spas involving nudity or specified sexual conduct. Under Sec. 98-1767, these uses are only permitted where a conventional bookstore, video store, motion picture theater or bath/massage parlor is already an allowed use, and even then an operator shall not be located within 1,000 feet of any other two such uses, or within 500 feet of any house of worship, child day-care facility, public or private school or property zoned residential.

Sec. 98-1768 repeats the same spacing standard for existing zoning districts. Sec. 98-1769 measures those distances from the nearest point of the property under the control and/or use of the adult business to the nearest point of the property zoned for residential, church and/or school purposes. Sec. 98-1770 gives the city council discretion to waive both the 1,000-foot and 500-foot separations if it makes four findings: the use won't harm nearby property or the public interest, won't encourage a skid-row area, won't conflict with neighborhood conservation or urban renewal, and will comply with all other ordinances.

A related subdivision, Sec. 98-1796 through 98-1799, separately regulates nude nightclubs with the same 1,000-foot/500-foot spacing but grandfathers any nude nightclub already licensed as of that ordinance's adoption, and layers on operating rules such as banning private curtained-off performance areas and requiring performers to be documented employees, not patrons.