Vanderburgh County, IN Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

240 lists the businesses covered as Use Group 21: adult arcades, adult bookstores/novelty/video stores, adult cabarets (including juice bars and bikini bars), adult motion picture theaters, adult theaters, nude model studios, sexual encounter centers and peep show facilities. C. C. 35-42-4-4. 240(B) layers on distance rules: 1,000 feet from any dwelling, duplex, residentially-used building or recorded subdivision in the A district; 1,000 feet from any R-1 through R-5 zoned property; 500 feet from religious institutions or K-12 schools; 500 feet from public parks; and 500 feet from any other Use Group 21 facility or nonconforming predecessor use, though multiple such facilities may share one parcel.

Distances run in a straight line between the nearest property lines, ignoring buildings in between. An applicant must have a state-registered land surveyor certify the measurements to Area Plan Commission staff before an Improvement Location Permit or Zoning Use Permit can issue, and Site Review Committee approval expires if the permit is not obtained within 180 calendar days. Because this is the county zoning code, it governs only the unincorporated area of Vanderburgh County; Evansville, the county's largest city, and Darmstadt administer their own zoning separately, though staff support runs through the joint Evansville-Vanderburgh County Area Plan Commission.